Oral contraceptive agents and breast cancer: a population-based case-control study

In this population-based case-control study that was conducted in Adelaide, South Australia, and which involved 395 case subjects and 386 control subjects who were aged 20 years to 69 years, the adjusted relative risk of breast cancer for women who had ever used oral contraceptive agents was 1.06 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70-1.60). Relative risks that were associated with use of oral contraceptive agents for one month to 18 months and for 19 months or more before a first pregnancy were 1.09 (95% CI, 0.45-2.62) and 1.67 (95% CI, 0.63-4.42), respectively, but the trend was not statistically significant. Relatively-little variation in risk was found in association with the total duration of the use of oral contraceptive agents and with years since the first and the last use of oral contraceptive agents. When the risk of breast cancer in association with the use of oral contraceptive agents was examined across levels of risk factors of breast cancer (history of benign breast disease, family history of breast cancer and parity), the only relative risk which deviated markedly from unity was that which was associated with use of oral contraceptive agents in women with a history of benign breast disease; however, the relative risk of 1.77 (95% CI, 0.35-8.97) was not statistically significant. In conclusion, the results of this study support those of the majority of previous studies in showing no overall relationship between the use of oral contraceptive agents and the risk of breast cancer.