In an earlier article, you said that they could affect the risk of breast cancer in someone who started her period early. I've heard that there's no relationship between breast cancer and the pill. Please tell me more. Thanks for the follow-up question. We cover a lot of ground at HouseCalls, and I am glad for the opportunity to clarify the points I have rushed by quickly.
Hormonal factors are very important in the development of breast cancer.
The amount and duration of estrogen exposure seems to be the key issue. The younger a woman is when she has her first period, and the older she is when she stops having periods, the more likely she is to develop breast cancer. Since your own hormones have an impact on the development of this disease, it makes sense that taking hormone pills, particularly estrogen containing pills, might also have an impact. Studies looking into this have had conflicting results. One of the reasons for this is that cancer takes a long time to develop.