Oral contraceptives or birth control pills are medications that prevent pregnancy. Other widely-known advantages of these pills are controlled fertile periods and menstruation. But do you know that oral contraceptives also have an important benefit that may save a woman’s life in the future?

Scientists have found that oral contraceptives can prevent ovarian cancer. Even when consumed only for a short period of time, the pills have a long-term protective function in preventing this specific type of cancer. The longer a woman consumes the pills, the lower her risk of suffering from ovarian cancer. Although there are assumptions that the pills could cause cancer, research and epidemiology studies have proven otherwise.

The study published in The Lancet Oncology journal states that oral contraceptives have a lasting effect in ovarian cancer prevention. After a woman no longer takes the pills, the effect may last for a few decades. The mechanism is not fully understood yet. One of the hypothesis is that oral contraceptives form a favourable progestagenic environment. This situation is less stimulatory to cancer cells when compared to normal ovulatory cycles.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most feared cancer types by women. Although the incidence is lower compared to breast cancer, the possibility of mortality is just the same. As a woman gets older, her risk of getting ovarian cancer increases. Using oral contraceptives is one of the easiest prevention methods.  

Text by Anggie Triana
Stock photos from Google Image Search

Source(s):

• Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies on Endometrial Cancer (2015). Endometrial cancer and oral contraceptives: an individual participant meta-analysis of 27276 women with endometrial cancer from 36 epidemiological studies. The Lancet Oncology. Vol 16 (9) 1061-1070. DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00212-0
• Why do oral contraceptives prevent ovarian cancer? https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT02155777, 18 August 2017.