Oral contraceptives and benign liver tumours.

Abstract

An oral contraceptive study by the Royal College of General Practitioners recorded 216000 woman-years of observation. 116000 of these were related to takers or ex-takers of oral contraceptives. No case of liver tumor was found in women of childbearing age. The Oxford Family Planning Association follow-up study of women using different methods of contraception recorded 83000 woman-years of observation of which 40% related to oral contraceptive users. No case of liver tumor was identified. The Oxford Linkage study for the years 1970-1975 found no benign liver tumors in women of childbearing age in a population of over a million. The Scottish National Diagnostic Index for the years 1968-1974 recorded no liver tumors in women of childbearing age. However 1 consultant recalled seeing 1 such case which had been improperly recorded as a hematoma. Thus the authors have identified only 1 case of benign liver tumor in a woman of childbearing age. Therefore benign tumors of the liver are considered to be rare in both users and nonusers of oral contraceptives. Some reports have indicated that the risk of such tumors has increased with the duration of use of oral contraceptives.