BREAST-CANCER IN WOMEN WHO HAVE TAKEN CONTRACEPTIVE STEROIDS

The prognosis and clinical and pathological findings in 93 patients with breast cancer who had taken contraceptive steroids before diagnosis (study group) were compared with those in 93 control patients, also with breast cancer, matched for age and parity. The tumors in the women in the study group had more favorable clinical and histological features than those in the control group. When only patients who had been treated by radical mastectomy were considered, those who had taken contraceptive steroids survived significantly longer even when differences in nodal state were taken into account. Significantly more patients in the study group had a family history of breast cancer. No evidence was found that taking oral contraceptive steroids had any harmful effect on tumor growth and spread, except possibly in patients with a close family history of breast cancer.