Contraceptive said to be a risk for some women.(breast cancer risk)

2003 JAN 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women with certain gene mutations have more than a 60% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer.

Now a new study suggests the risk is even greater for these women if they used oral contraceptives at an early age or before 1975.

The study found that among women with the BRCA1 gene mutation, taking the pill years ago increased the chances of developing breast cancer by 33-42% when compared to mutation carriers who did not take it.

Dr. Steven A. Narod, chairman of breast cancer research at the Centre for Research on Women's Health at the University of Toronto, said the study does not mean that modern birth control pills are dangerous for women with the breast cancer gene, but it does add a note of caution about how they should use the pill.

"In this data, the only women who had an increased risk started taking the pill before 1975. Also, they had to take it when they were young, under the age of 25," said Narod in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. He said the increased risk for the gene mutation carriers is "mostly women who took the pill when they were young a long time ago."

Modern birth control pills have only a fraction of the hormones that were present in birth control pills routinely used before 1975, he said.

Narod said the study also showed the risk increased if women started the pills before the age of 25 or if they took the oral contraceptives for longer than 5 years.