Birth Control Pills Appear to Cut Risk of Genetically Triggered Ovarian Cancer

Birth control pills appear to halve the chances of ovarian cancer among women with a faulty gene that puts them at high risk for the disease. The pill has long been known to reduce the risk of this kind of cancer among women in general. But until now, it was not clear whether the pill helped those whose risk resulted from bad genes, called BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Dr. Steven A. Narod of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto studied 207 women with ovarian cancer resulting from defective BRCA1 or BRCA2, and 161 of their sisters, some of whom also had the genetic mutations. They report in today’s New England Journal of Medicine that those who had used birth control pills any time in the past had 50% lower risk of ovarian cancer. If they used the pill for more than six years, the risk was 60% lower.

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II