Effects of pill on mortality do not persist after 10 years

More than 300 million women throughout the world have used oral contraceptives since they were licensed in 1959. Although the short term effects of the pill are well documented, less is known about long term effects. On p 96 Beral et al report results of a 25 year follow up of 46 000 women. They found a significantly reduced mortality from ovarian cancer and excess mortality from circulatory diseases and cervical cancer among women currently using the pill or who had stopped use in the past 10 years. However, women who had stopped use 10 or more years previously had similar mortality to women who had never used the pill.


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Relevant Article

Mortality associated with oral contraceptive use: 25 year follow up of cohort of 46 000 women from Royal College of General Practitioners' oral contraception study

Valerie Beral, Carol Hermon, Clifford Kay, Philip Hannaford, Sarah Darby, and Gillian Reeves
BMJ 1999 318: 96-100. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]