Ten Years After Ceasing Pill Use, Former Users Have Mortality Risks Similar to Those of Never-Users

Abstract

A 25-year follow-up study conducted in the UK has found that increases in mortality associated with the current use of oral contraceptives (OC) do not persist after 10 years of nonuse. Compared with women who have never used the pill current users and women who have used the pill within the previous 10 years are 90% more likely to die from circulatory diseases and more than twice as likely to die from cervical cancer although they are only 20% as likely to die from ovarian cancer. However after 10 years of nonuse former users have mortality levels similar to those among nonusers. The data for this analysis come from 46000 women recruited by their general practitioners in a 1968 study of the health of women taking OCs. Most pill formulations used by women in the study were combined preparations containing 50 mcg of estrogen. Study results are based upon 853517 person-years of experience 517519 contributed by ever-users of OC and 335998 contributed by nonusers.