A news study suggests that women who carry the BRCA1 mutation could be at increased risk of cancer if they take oral contraceptives.

The mutations BRCA1 and BRCA2 increase a woman's risk of breast cancer to 50 to 80 per cent over a lifetime. But it's thought the risk for an individual woman depends on various environmental and lifestyle factors interacting with the genes.

Researchers in Toronto have looked at 1,311 women having either BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations and compared them to a group of 1,311 women not having the mutation. Among women who had BRCA1 mutations, use of oral contraceptives for five years or more increased the risk of breast cancer by 33 per cent, compared to women who had never used an oral contraceptive. The risk was also increased among women who used the Pill before age 30 and those diagnosed with breast cancer before they were 40. There was, however, no increased risk seen in women with BRCA2 mutations. Age, say the researchers, should be an important consideration when prescribing the Pill to women with BRCA1 mutations. It's unlikely that using the Pill after 30 increases the risk of cancer.

Source

Journal of the National Cancer Institute 4th December 2002