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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Ann Epidemiol. 2014 Nov 13;25(3):193–200. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.11.004

Table 2.

Cancer outcomes associated with ever vs. never usea of combined oral contraceptives in meta-analyses of observational studies published between 2000 and 2012

Cancer outcome # Studies Summary OR (95% CI) Increase or decrease
in lifetime absolute risk, %
Breast cancer 23 1.08 (1.00-1.17) 0.89
Ovarian cancer 24 0.73 (0.66-0.81) −0.54
Endometrial cancer 7 0.57 (0.43-0.77) −1.77
Colorectal cancer 11 0.86 (0.79-0.95) −0.76
a

Effects on cancer persist for 10-30 years after discontinuation of use, so comparing ever vs. never users is an appropriate global comparison.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio. CI, confidence interval.

Source: Gierisch JM et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2013;22:1931-43; Havrilesky LJ et al., Obstet Gynecol 2013;122:139-47.