All hormone contraceptives, including progestagen-only “minipills,” carry a small “excess risk” of breast cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Oxford, but the overall risk remains low.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, bridges a research gap by investigating the link between breast cancer and progestagen-only contraceptives.
“Use of combined oral contraceptives, containing both estrogen and progestagen, has previously been associated with a small increase in breast cancer risk but there is limited data about the effect of progestagen-only hormonal contraceptives,” the authors wrote.
The study found that progestagen-only contraceptives are associated with a 20% to 30% relative risk for breast cancer, which aligns with previous research on combined hormone contraceptives. The overall risk of breast cancer among hormone contraceptive users is low, especially for younger women, and past studies have shown that the excess risk is gone entirely about 10 years after stopping.
The study does not indicate that hormonal contraceptives cause breast cancer but rather investigated potential links to the disease.
