Pill 'cuts ovarian cancer risk'

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The longer the Pill is used, the greater the reduction in the risk of developing the disease, according to an article published in The Lancet.

The researchers found that this protection lasted for more than 30 years after a woman had stopped taking the oral contraceptive. Taking it for 15 years halved the risk of ovarian cancer.

The study, conducted by the Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer, estimated that in high income countries, using the Pill for 10 years reduced the risk of developing this disease before the age of 75 from 12 per 1000 women to eight per 1000 women.

It also reduces the risk of death from ovarian cancer before the age of 75 from seven down to five per 1000 women.

The study looked at worldwide evidence from 45 studies of ovarian cancer in 21 countries.

It included 23,257 women with the cancer, of whom 7,308 (31%) had used oral contraceptives and a control group of 87,303 women without the disease of whom 32,717 (37%) had used oral contraceptives.

In women with the cancer, the average age of diagnosis was 56. Those that had used the contraceptive had done so for an average of 4.4 years.

Lead author Professor Valerie Beral, director of the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University, said: "Worldwide, the Pill has already prevented 200,000 women from developing cancer of the ovary and has prevented 100,000 deaths from the disease.

"More than 100 million women are now taking the Pill, so the number of ovarian cancers prevented will rise over the next few decades to about 30,000 per year."