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The effects of oral contraceptives and parity on ovarian cancer trends in women under 55 years of age
Author(s) -
VILLARDMACKINTOSH LAURENCE,
VESSEY MARTIN P.,
JONES LESLIE
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1989.tb03316.x
Subject(s) - medicine , parity (physics) , demography , population , ovarian cancer , mortality rate , incidence (geometry) , gynecology , developed country , cancer , obstetrics , environmental health , physics , particle physics , sociology , optics
Summary. Mortality from epithelial ovarian cancer is falling in women under 55 years of age in England and Wales. The decline does not appear to be a treatment effect nor to be attributable to changes in the rate of oophorectomy. Case‐control studies have shown that high parity and oral contraceptive use are protective against the disease. We suggest that the decrease in mortality is compatible in timing and magnitude with exposure to oral contraceptives. No obvious effect on mortality attributable to parity was apparent in this analysis. Oral contraceptives may prove to be a widely acceptable means of preventing ovarian cancer, providing they do not increase breast cancer risk.