Thousands of women who take the Pill are not at higher risk of potentially deadly liver cancer, research today suggested.
Studies have long suggested there may be a link between the combined oral contraceptive pill and the risk of developing tumours in the liver.
This is because the birth control pill contains the hormone oestrogen, which scientists believe can stimulate some cancer cells to grow.
But now, in one of the largest studies to date involving more than 1.5million British women, researchers discovered there was ‘little to no association’ between taking the Pill and liver cancer.
Experts, who said the study was the ‘most comprehensive to date’, concluded there was ‘no overall link’.
Liver cancer now kills 5,800 people in the UK each year compared with 2,200 in the late 1990s, making it the UKs fastest rising killer and responsible for double the deaths of skin cancer.
It’s currently the eighth most common cause of cancer death in the UK, but by 2040, the charity warns that it could rank sixth.
Cancer Research UK figures also suggest rates of the disease have increased by 86 per cent among 25-to-49-year-olds since the 1990s.
Studies have long suggested there may be a link between the combined oral contraceptive pill and the risk of developing tumours in the liver
Liver cancer now kills 5,800 people in the UK each year compared with 2,200 in the late 1990s, making it the UKs fastest rising killer and responsible for double the deaths of skin cancer
In the study, researchers analysed data from 23 previous studies as well as the UK biobank health study involving over a million women.
They compared women who had ever used a birth control pill with those who never used them and found there were 5,400 liver cancer cases logged across all studies.
Writing in the journal The Lancet Oncology, the researchers said there was ‘no association with liver cancer risk’.
However, they added, there was ‘weak evidence that women who used the birth control pill for longer periods had a very slight increased risk of liver cancer (6 per cent) per 5 years of use.’
This they said, was likely to due to unmeasured factors such as patients who had Hepatitis B or C infection—a major risk factor for liver cancer.
Around one in four liver cancer cases in the UK are also caused by obesity, while a fifth are related to smoking, and one in 14 are due to excessive alcohol, research shows.
Latest NHS figures for suggest there were almost 3million prescriptions for the combined pill and more than 4million for the mini pill, which just contains progestogen.
Around a quarter of all women aged 15 to 49 are on either the combined or progesterone only pill.
The NHS says natural family planning can be up to 99 per cent effective when done correctly and around 75 per cent if not used according to instructions. By comparison, the Pill, implant, IUS and IUD are 99 per cent effective with perfect use, while condoms are 98 per cent
The proportion of women taking oral contraceptives has fallen by more than two-thirds, from 420,600 in 2012/13 to 126,400 in 2022/23, according to the NHS data. Around 555,400 women turned to the health service’s sexual and reproductive health services in 2022/23 — equivalent to four per cent of 13 to 54-year-olds
Taken every day, it works by stopping the ovaries releasing an egg each month.
It also thickens the cervical mucus and thinning the womb lining to stop sperm reaching an egg, and attaching itself in the womb.
It is over 99 per cent effective with perfect use but if used incorrectly—such as missing a pill or experiencing nausea and diarrhoea while on it—around one in ten women (9 per cent) may get pregnant.
Known side effects of the Pill include nausea, breast tenderness, mood swings and headaches.
Others claim they pile on pounds while taking the because of increased fluid retention and appetite, yet the NHS says there is no evidence it leads to weight gain.
Decades of research has failed to provide any conclusive evidence that this supposed side effect is real.
However, rarer side effects include blood clots and a slightly heightened risk of breast and cervical cancer.
