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Contraceptive + HPV => Cervical Cancer
« on: 2002-05-01 22:22:10 » |
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Cervical cancer linked to use of contraceptive pill
Source: The Guardian
Authors: James Meikle
Dated: 2002-03-27
Many women who are on the contraceptive pill for more than five years could triple or quadruple their risk of developing cervical cancer, according to researchers whose findings will reinforce appeals for women to attend regular screening.
The increased dangers, for those who have the human papilloma virus (HPV), a common infection, were reported in a review of studies in eight countries compiled for the World Health Organisation.
But British family planning and cancer advisers said pill users should not be too worried by the findings which should be offset by the advanced screening programmes. The pill has been shown to have health benefits, cutting the risk of other gynaecological cancers. There has been recent new evidence it may slightly increase the risks of breast cancer.
Cancer Research UK also cautioned against reading across the results of the research, in Thailand, the Philippines, Morocco, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Columbia and Spain to Britain. Far higher proportions of women in Britain have used the pill regularly and for longer.
About 1,300 British women die each year from cervical cancer and 3,000 others are diagnosed with it. Well over 99% of these also have HPV, a sexually transmitted disease, although as many as a third of women in their 20s may have the virus and very few will develop cancer of the cervix.
The study, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the WHO, is published in the Lancet medical journal. It found no increased risk for those who had used oral contraceptives for fewer than five years, but women who had been on the pill for five to nine years were three times more likely to have cervical cancer, and those who had been pill users for more than 10 years had four times the risk.
Silvia Francheschi, at the IARC in Lyon, France, said long-term pill users should be included in cervical screening programmes.
The absolute risk of developing cervical cancer is higher in developing countries, about 5%, than those in the developed world, about 1%. Screening in Britain has cut the incidence by about 40%. More than four in five women between 25 and 64 who are invited for screening attend.
Anne Szareweski, of Cancer Research UK, said: "In this country we have a pretty good screening programme. If women go for regular smears, whether they are on the ill, have HPV or smoke, they should be treated in time."
The FPA, formerly the Family Planning Association, said the new report added to the evidence linking increased use of the pill to cervical cancer but was not conclusive. "The overall likelihood of getting cervical cancer in the UK is low whether you use the pill for a long time or not ... the benefits of using oral contraception outweigh the risks for the vast majority of women."
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