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Use of oral contraceptives and endometrial cancer risk (Sweden)

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Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the magnitude and persistence of the protective effect of use of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and endometrial cancer risk.

Methods: We performed a nation-wide, population-based case–control study among postmenopausal women aged 50–74 years in Sweden, which included 709 subjects with incident, histopathologically verified endometrial cancer, and 3,368 controls with an intact uterus. We used unconditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios as estimates of relative risks.

Results: Use of any sort of oral contraceptive decreased risk for endometrial cancer by 30%, while progestin-only pills reduced risk more markedly. For COCs the reduction in risk was noticeable following 3 or more years of use (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3–0.7), and increased with duration of intake, reaching 80% lower risk after 10 years of use. The protective effect of COC use was similar for all degrees of tumor differentiation and invasiveness, and remained for at least 20 years after cessation of use. Subsequent use of hormone replacement did not modify these protective effects.

Conclusions: We conclude that COC use confers a long-lasting protection against endometrial cancer risk which is particularly marked for long-term users.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, SE 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

    Elisabete Weiderpass, Hans-Olov Adami, Cecilia Magnusson & Ingemar Persson

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Hans-Olov Adami

  3. Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, USA

    John A. Baron

  4. Department of Pathology, Falun Hospital, Falun, Sweden

    Anders Lindgren

Authors
  1. Elisabete Weiderpass
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  2. Hans-Olov Adami
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  3. John A. Baron
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  4. Cecilia Magnusson
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  5. Anders Lindgren
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  6. Ingemar Persson
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Weiderpass, E., Adami, HO., Baron, J.A. et al. Use of oral contraceptives and endometrial cancer risk (Sweden). Cancer Causes Control 10, 277–284 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008945721786

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008945721786

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