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Long-term hormonal contraceptive use linked to increased brain tumor risk
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There may be an increased risk for the development of a rare tumor, glioma of the brain, among premenopausal women taking a hormonal contraceptive for at least 5 years, according to recent study findings published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
According to a press release, little is known about the causes of certain brain tumors, but some evidence exists that hormonal contraceptives increase the risk for certain cancers.
“This prompted us to evaluate whether using hormonal contraceptives might influence the risk of gliomas in women of the age range who use them,” David Gaist, MD, PhD, of Odense University Hospital and the University of Southern Denmark, said in a press release.
David Gaist
Gaist and colleagues evaluated 317 women aged 15 to 49 years with a first-time diagnosis of glioma between 2000 and 2009 to determine the effect of hormonal contraceptives on glioma risk. Participants were compared with 2,126 age-matched controls.
“It is important to keep this apparent increase in risk in context,” Gaist said. “In a population of women in the reproductive age, including those who use hormonal contraceptives, you would anticipate seeing five in 100,000 people develop a glioma annually, according to the nationwide Danish Cancer Registry.”
More than half of the women with gliomas (58.7%) and those without (50.1%) were ever users of contraceptives (P=.004), for an OR of 1.5 (95% CI, 1.2-2) for glioma associated with ever use. Compared with past use (OR=1.2; 95% CI, 0.8-2), current/recent use led to a higher OR (OR=1.7; 95% CI, 1.3-2.4).
The risk for glioma increased when oral contraceptives were used for at least 5 years (OR=1.9; 95% CI, 1.2-2.9) compared with less than 1 year (OR=1.4; 95% CI, 0.8-2.3).
“Although our results indicate an increased risk of glioma in women that use hormonal contraceptives, it is important to interpret these results in context,” Gaist told Endocrine Today. “Glioma in women of the age-group that use hormonal contraception is very rare. In Denmark, it afflicts approximately five younger women (ages 15-49) per 100,000 women that age per year, a figure which includes women who take hormonal contraceptives. I therefore believe that an overall risk-benefit evaluation favors and would still favor continued use of hormonal contraceptives in eligible women.” – by Amber Cox
For more information:
David Gaist, MD, PhD, can be reached at Department of Neurology, Odense University Hospital, Sdr. Boulevard 29, 5000 Odense C, Denmark; email: dgaist@health.sdu.dk.
Disclosure: Gaist reports no relevant financial disclosures. See the full study for a complete list of the other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures. The study was funded in part by the Danish Cancer Society.
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