Oral contraceptives reduce multiple sclerosis risk

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A comparison reveals that women on oral contraceptives are less likely to develop multiple sclerosis.
Previous research has suggested that pregnancy can protect women from developing multiple sclerosis (MS), probably because of hormonal factors. Now a team at Harvard School of Public Health show that oral contraceptives (OCs) have a similarly beneficial effect.

OCs contain the female hormone estrogen and prevent conception by putting the body in an artificial state of pregnancy. In this study, 106 women with MS were compared with 1,001 women who did not have the condition. The comparison revealed that taking OCs was linked to a 40 per cent reduced risk of MS. The researchers believe it is the estrogen content of the OCs which is responsible for this effect. They also found, as expected, that pregnancy was protective of a first attack of MS.

Source
Archives of Neurology September 2005

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