Dr. David Gaist, a neurologist at the Odense University Hospital, says birth control doesn’t directly cause glioma and that these findings shouldn’t be a reason for women to stop taking birth control. He told the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology:
“If you took at women in Denmark aged 15 to 49, about five in 100,000 experience that terrible diagnosis in a year, and that figure includes women on hormonal contraceptives, so it’s a very rare event.”
Interestingly enough, previous studies have suggested that estrogen and progestin might actually protect women against glioma, but the women who participated in these studies were post-menopause.
Also, women who used progestin-based birth control were slightly more likely to develop gliomas, but it’s believed that obesity played a role.
Of course, there’s still a lot more research that needs to be done on how birth control pills affect the brain. In the meantime, if you’re taking hormonal contraceptives and you’re concerned about your health, it’s never a bad idea to talk with your doctor.
Long-Term Use Of Birth Control Pills Linked To Rare Brain Tumor was originally published on blackdoctor.org
