Some Hormonal Contraceptives Increase Breast Cancer Risk by 20%...What is a relatively safe medicine?
Oct 31, 2025
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In particular, contraceptives containing 'Desogestrel' had a higher risk of developing breast cancer than other agents.
Researchers from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, published the results of a follow-up study of 2,095,130 women aged 13 to 49 from 2006 to 2019 in the international medical journal `JAMA Oncology.'
According to the study, a total of 16,385 breast cancer cases occurred over 13 years. Overall, women who took hormonal contraceptives had a 1.24 times higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who did not. This corresponds to about 13 additional breast cancer cases per 100,000 people.
By formulation, combined contraceptives (estrogen + progestin) increased the risk of developing breast cancer by 12% compared to women who did not use hormonal contraceptives.
On the other hand, women who took progestin (synthetic progesterone) alone had a higher risk of developing the disease by about 21%.
The levonorgestrel compound pill was 9% higher and levonorgestrel IUS (intrauterine device, 52 mg) was 13%, respectively.
In particular, women who implanted Etonogestrel implants (68 mg) based on Desogestrel showed a 22% increased risk of developing the disease.
On the other hand, there was no significant increase in risk in injections or vaginal rings using other types of progestin, the researchers said.
The researchers explained that it is not yet clear why desogestrels increase the risk of breast cancer over other progestins, and further research is needed. In addition, women who are at risk of breast cancer or have a family history should consult a prescription specialist", he suggested.
In this study, it was also confirmed that the longer the duration of contraceptive use, the higher the risk of breast cancer.
Users under one year had a 10% higher risk of developing the disease, but those who took longer than five years increased significantly to more than 30%.
However, if you stop taking contraceptives, the risk decreased over time.
Ten years after discontinuation, the risk of breast cancer became almost the same as that of non-users.
The researchers emphasized that `this study does not simply conclude that 'all contraceptives are dangerous', but that 'safety varies depending on the ingredients'.'
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
