Whether women currently taking birth control pills have a higher risk of breast cancer has long been a matter of debate with some studies suggesting that they do, and others suggesting that they don’t. But a new finding is certain to give some pill takers, like myself, pause.
Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle examined medical records from more than 1,100 breast cancer patients ages 20 to 49 and found that those taking oral contraceptives within a year of their diagnosis had a 50 percent higher risk of getting the cancer compared with healthy counterparts of the same age who weren’t taking the pill.
