The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research reports a study that found a link between the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera and breast cancer in young women.
The study involved women between the ages of 20 and 44 — 1,028 of whom had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and 919 of whom had not.
The women who received injections of Depo-Provera within the previous five years were 2.2 times more likely to have been diagnosed with breast cancer than those who never used the contraceptive.
According to the report, the injectable birth control method is the only contraceptive in the U.S. that contains the same synthetic hormone as Prempro, a postmenopausal hormone therapy pill. A previous study found that Prempro increased women’s breast cancer risk by 24 percent.
This isn’t the first time that contraceptives containing a synthetic hormone have been linked to potentially fatal health problems for women.
At least five studies have found a substantially higher risk of blood clots, pulmonary embolism, deep-vein thrombosis and stroke for women using contraceptives containing the synthetic hormone drospirenone, compared to those using other types of birth control pills.
Birth control pills with drospirenone include Yaz, Beyaz, Yasmin and Ocella.
More details can be found here: https://www.fhcrc.org/content/public/en/news/releases/2012/04/dmpa-breast-cancer-risk-chris-li.html
