A new study shows that contraceptive pills can do more than just prevent conception — it can also help prevent endometrial cancer in women.
The new study, which appeared in The Lancet Oncology, involved more than 27,000 women who had endometrial or uterine cancer and more than 115,000 women who did not.
The data was taken from 36 different studies over a five-decade period, as reported in Newsweek.
An estimated 400,000 uterine cancer cases were prevented in women who took birth control pills for the last five decades, and 200,000 the prevented cases were from the past decade.
In addition, researchers have also found that women who continued taking the pills had decreased risk of developing the disease. More surprisingly, the decrease in risk continued on for several years after discontinuation of the pills.
"One of the most impressive aspects of the studies showed that the reduction in risk persists long after the patient ceases use of the pill, even up to 30 years later," stated Dr. Jennifer Wu, an Ob-Gyn specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City, in a report from WebMD.
Endometrial cancer affects the lining of the uterus, or the endometrium.
Birth control pills have female hormones as its ingredients, and these hormones help prevent the uterine lining from thickening, as explained by Wu.
The process of uterine wall thickening leads to formation of "precancerous cells" that multiply and will soon become malignant.
Women who take contraceptive pills will have their uterine lining thinned and so they face a lower risk of developing the cancer.
Endometrial cancer accounts for six percent of all types of cancers in women and it commonly affects those over 45 years old. For every four cases, at least three who are 55 years and above can have the condition.
According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 54,870 U.S. women will have the condition in 2015 and will cause the death of 10,170 of them.
