ping
grrrrrrrrrr.
Here is my reply to this: Without all the proper knowledge of the situation it is easy to say there is an increased risk of breast cancer with OCPS. There are many confounding issues, like:
1. The doses of estrogen in OCPs in the 60s were astronomical compared to today’s doses, yet studies still figure in populations who took these doses into the numbers.
2. MUCH Stronger risk factors for breast cancer include obesity and alcohol usage... both of which have increased exponentially since the 1960s among women. Neither of which are accounted for in the epidemiological numbers everyone cites for the increase in breast cancer in the last 50 years.
3. Most of the increased risk of blood clots with OCPs is due to concurrent tobacco usage. The combination of nicotine and tar metabolites +estrogen causes the liver to over-produce some blood clotting factors. Without nicotine and tar, this increased production does not occur in the presence of estrogen alone.
4. OCPs don’t actually cause liver CANCER. They can increase the risk of benign liver tumors (hepatiocellular adenoma). The increased risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (CANCER) is actually thought to be due to sexual transmission of the Hepatitis C Virus (which women who take OCPs are at higher risk because they don’t usually use condoms)...
5. The same idea stands for increased risk of cervical cancer (the HPV virus causes cervical cancer and women who take OCPS contract the virus more frequently)... Good thing there is a vaccine now for HPV (Vaccinate your kids.)
6. I know many good docs who recommend patients take OCPs just to prevent ovarian cancer, for which they are very effective (reduce risk by 40%). In patients with a genetic predisposition to ovarian cancer or a strong family history, it is universally recommended. Ovarian cancer usually has no symptoms and there is no screening test. Thus it is usually caught in late stages where it has spread throughout the body. (average 5 year survival for ovarian cancer= 8%). I’d trade a theoretical increased risk of breast cancer for 40% decrease in ovarian cancer any day. Not even a hard choice.
7. One theory (which I happen to subscribe to) is that the increased risk among women taking OCPs has nothing to do with the medication. It has to do with a bias of what women in the population are getting regular gynecological and breast exams. Most docs require a yearly exam to refill a prescription for an OCP. Therefore, breast cancer is caught in these women compared to non-OCP users who are not having yearly exams (or maybe no routine healthcare at all).
Its a well-written article, but the bottom line is that it may not be a causal relationship after all. Thanks for the ping.