The association of depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate and breast cancer

The use of depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) as an injectable contraceptive for women has continued to be controversial for over 10 years. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved it for contraceptive use but the World Health Organization has. We undertook a case-control study to clarify the possible association of breast cancer and DMPA use. Subjects were selected from women enrolled in the Grady Memorial Hospital Family Planning Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1967 to 1979. The risk of breast cancer in DMPA users compared to nonusers is identical. The small number of women with breast cancer, the short average exposure to DMPA, and the lack of detail about the subjects themselves caused us to interpret our results cautiously. However, it seems reasonable to conclude that short-term use of DMPA among black women is not associated with any increased risk of breast cancer.