The Risk for Breast Cancer Fr... Health Article

A recent report¹suggests that these women who have the BRCA1 mutation and used high-dose birth control pills in any these cases may have an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

• During or before 1975

• Before age 30

• For 5 or more years

What is less clear is how--and if--breast cancer risk is altered in women who have a family history of breast cancer and use modern-day, low-dose birth control pills. Today’s pills contain one-third or less of the amount of hormones as the original pills.

So should women with a family history of breast cancer avoid using birth control pills? Not necessarily. What’s defined as a family history of breast cancer has a broad range. At the less significant end is having one first-degree relative —such as a mom, sister, or daughter-- diagnosed with breast cancer at age 80. At the very significant end is having an extended family history of early-onset breast and ovarian cancer.

In women who test positive for a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, the risks and benefits of birth control pills are unclear. These mutation carriers are at increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. They have a 15% to 60% lifetime risk as compared with the 1.4% risk for the general population. Data suggests that birth control pills significantly reduce the risk for ovarian cancer in BRCA carriers.² It has been suggested that because ovarian cancer is so difficult to detect at an early stage, the benefits of birth control pills may well outweigh the risks in BRCA carriers.

In the end, there is no “one size fits all” solution to this issue. We cannot say uniformly that all women with a family history should avoid birth control pills, or vice versa. Each woman should have a personalized risk assessment to determine what her real risks are and what her options are to reduce those risks and maximize her quality of life.