A study discovered that the chance of meningioma, a tumor that is primarily non-cancerous, can increase by up to five times when certain medications containing the hormone progestogen are used for an extended period of time.
Experts advise women, though, to continue using birth control until speaking with their physician.
Medroxyprogesterone acetate, a contraceptive injection sold under the brand name Depo-Provera, was the only progestogen in the study that was used in the UK and was associated with a greater risk of tumor development.
According to data, England writes about 10,000 prescriptions for the drug each month.
The study found that long-term use for more than a year was linked to a 5.6-fold higher risk of meningioma development.
The study was not conducted by Paul Pharoah, a professor of cancer epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “While this sounds like a very large risk, it is important to realise that meningioma is rare and a five-fold increase in a rare disease is still a rare disease,” Pharoah said.
