ArticleJournal of the National Cancer Institute2025
Long-acting, progestin-based contraceptives and risk of breast, gynecological, and other cancers.
Article in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prescribed Short-Acting Hormonal Contraceptive Use Among Premenopausal Females.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- An evolutionary medicine perspective on the design of non-hormonal contraceptives for women.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2026Article
- Hormonal Contraceptive Formulations and Breast Cancer Risk in Adolescents and Premenopausal Women.JAMA oncology · 2025Article
- Article
- Hormone therapy use and young-onset breast cancer: a pooled analysis of prospective cohorts included in the Premenopausal Breast Cancer Collaborative Group.The Lancet. Oncology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUse of long-acting, reversible contraceptives has increased over the past 20 years, but an understanding of how they could influence cancer risk is limited.
methodsWe conducted a nested case-control study among a national cohort of Australian women (n = 176 601 diagnosed with cancer between 2004 and 2013; 882 999 matched control individuals) to investigate the associations between the levonorgestrel intrauterine system, etonogestrel implants, depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate and cancer risk and compared these results with the oral contraceptive pill. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).
resultsLevonorgestrel intrauterine system and etonogestrel implant use was associated with breast cancer risk (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.21 to 1.31, and OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.17 to 1.32, respectively), but depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate was not, except when used for 5 or more years (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.95 to 1.59). Reduced risks were seen for levonorgestrel intrauterine system (≥1 years of use) in endometrial cancer (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.65 to 0.99), ovarian cancer (OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.57 to 0.88), and cervical cancer (OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.51 to 0.75); for etonogestrel implant in endometrial cancer (OR = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.13 to 0.34) and ovarian cancer (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.57 to 1.02); and for depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate in endometrial cancer (OR = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.13 to 0.34). Although levonorgestrel intrauterine system, etonogestrel implant and depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate were all associated with increased cancer risk overall, for etonogestrel implant, the risk returned to baseline after cessation, similar to the oral contraceptive pill. We were unable to adjust for all potential confounders, but sensitivity analyses suggested that adjusting for parity, smoking, and obesity would not have materially changed our findings.
conclusionLong-acting, reversible contraceptives have similar cancer associations to the oral contraceptive pill (reduced endometrial and ovarian cancer risks and short-term increased breast cancer risk). This information may be helpful to women and their physicians when discussing contraception options.
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