Take the Pill to protect against ovarian cancer
Women not at high risk of heart attack should take it, say docs.
Salma Khalik
Mon, Mar 03, 2008
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE gynaecologists are advising women to take the Pill for protection against ovarian cancer.
This is the other benefit the oral contraceptive can provide, besides being able to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
| 200,000 women saved: Study |
| TAKING oral contraceptives has saved about 200,000 women from ovarian cancer, says an article in leading medical journal The Lancet.
The protective effects of the Pill, introduced 50years ago, last decades after women stop taking it, the study of 110,000 women found. And the longer women are on the Pill, the greater the protection against this deadly cancer, which kills about 80 women here each year. Being on the Pill for five years brings 29per cent less risk in the 10 years after stopping; 19per cent less risk in the following 10 to 19 years; and 15per cent less risk 20 to 29 years after stopping. The Oxford University study speculated that by suppressing ovarian activi- ty, the Pill protects against the abnormal growth of cells in the ovary. |
Women not at high risk of a heart attack or stroke should get on it, stay on it till menopause and suspend taking it only in the run-up to trying to conceive, said the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Singapore (OGSS), which represents 95 per cent of obstetricians and gynaecologists here.
The society will be circulating its recommendations to members here in its next newsletter, to be sent out this month.
Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common among women here, with about 250 new cases surfacing every year.
No reliable screen is available for this cancer, which presents few symptoms. It is therefore often discovered too late to save the patient.
The move by OGSS to reach its members follows an article in the January edition of The Lancet, a leading medical journal.
The study of 110,000 women strongly confirmed what doctors have known for a long time - that the Pill cuts significantly the risk of ovarian cancer.
Dr Beh Suan Tiong, who heads OGSS, said that even teenagers who are on the Pill to clear their acne or to regulate their menstrual cycles should not get off it once their problems have gone away.
The protection given by the Pill is long-lasting too, and women who stay on it for at least 10 years will cut their risk of ovarian cancer before the age of 75 by a third.
Associate Professor Tay Eng Hseon of KK Women's and Children's Hospital, who specialises in cancers of the female reproductive system, said that even being on the Pill for just five years gives great protection.
He added: 'I generally avoid prescribing oral contraceptives beyond the age of 45 for women, and 40 for smokers.'
Heavy smokers, already at higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, get this risk enhanced if they take the Pill.
Prof Tay said that even women who are not sexually active would benefit from going on the Pill, because women who have not given birth before are at higher risk of getting ovarian cancer.
The Pill is known to slightly raise a woman's risk of breast cancer, but all gynaecologists The Straits Times spoke to agreed that ovarian cancer is far more serious than breast cancer, for which reliable screening tests and effective treatments are available.
Also, the higher risk of getting breast cancer falls shortly after a woman goes off the Pill, while the protection afforded by the Pill against ovarian cancer lasts for decades.
But the Pill is not popular here. Dr Beh said only about one in five women here takes it.
Mrs Celine Ho, 37, is typical of many women here. She went off the Pill after a few months because she was putting on weight.
Even with the news that it could cut her risk of ovarian cancer, she is doubtful she will get back on it.
'I'll still get fat, right?' she asked.
Weight gain is a side effect that affects some women, usually only in the initial months of getting on the Pill.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Mar 3, 2008.