Abstract
Women who had used oral contraceptives, particularly long-term users, were found to have higher rates of malignant melanoma and of a past history of skin cancer than those who had never used oral contraceptives. This excess was confined to lesions of the lower limb. The association between oral contraceptive use and melanoma was noted in 3 separate sets of data, although it was statistically significant only in one. The possibility that this relationship is indirect because, for example, oral contraceptive users are more likely than never-users to be exposed to sunlight and thus to develop malignant melanoma, cannot be excluded.
Similar content being viewed by others
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Beral, V., Ramcharan, S. & Faris, R. Malignant melanoma and oral contraceptive use among women in California. Br J Cancer 36, 804–809 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1977.265
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1977.265
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Correlation between fertility drugs use and malignant melanoma incidence: the state of the art
Tumor Biology (2014)
-
Malignant melanoma risk after exposure to fertility drugs: results from a large Danish cohort study
Cancer Causes & Control (2008)
-
Pregnancy History and Incidence of Melanoma in Women: A Pooled Analysis
Cancer Causes & Control (2006)
-
Cancer in pregnancy: maternal-fetal conflict
Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology (2003)
-
A pooled analysis of 10 case–control studies of melanoma and oral contraceptive use
British Journal of Cancer (2002)