A study suggests that the risk of breast cancer is raised by all hormonal contraceptives.

According to earlier studies, the oestrogen and progesterone-containing combined contraceptive pill may raise breast cancer risk by 20%.

However, a recent study has revealed that the more recent, and recently more popular, progestogen-only pills carry the same risk as their more-traditional counterparts.

Additionally, the results were applicable to both hormonal contraceptives, whether they were used orally, topically, or as implants.

Over 9,000 women between the ages of 20 and 49 who developed invasive breast cancer and 18,000 women who were closely matched but did not were the subjects of an analysis by a team from the University of Oxford.

According to the analysis, there was a 20 to 30 per cent higher risk of breast cancer in people who were taking or had recently stopped taking the more recent progestogen-only pill.

Although there was no additional risk ten years after women stopped using the contraceptives, this effect seemed to wear off once they had stopped using them. It has been demonstrated in the past that women who are currently taking or have recently stopped taking the combined contraceptive pill have a 20% higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who did not take it.

The team claimed that their study, which was published in the journal Plos Medicine, 'fills a gap' in our understanding of the dangers of using hormonal contraceptives. However, they insisted that these dangers must be weighed against the benefits of using them.

"I do not really see that there is any indication here to say that women need to necessarily change what they are doing," said Gillian Reeves, professor of statistical epidemiology and director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford.

’ Yes, there has been an increase in this, and yes, nobody wants to hear that a medication they are taking will double their risk of developing breast cancer. Since a long time ago, it has been known that combined oral contraceptives, which women have been using for decades, also slightly increase the risk of breast cancer but only temporarily.

We were not entirely certain what these progestogen-only contraceptives' corresponding effects would be.

In terms of breast cancer risk, "what we have shown is that they are just the same; they seem to have a very similar effect to the other contraceptives, and the effect that we have known about for many years."

The absolute excess risk of breast cancer associated with either type of oral contraceptive will be lower in women who use it at younger ages, according to Kirstin Pirie, statistical programmer at Oxford Population Health and one of the study's lead authors. The well-known advantages of using contraceptives during a woman's reproductive years must be viewed in the context of these excess risks, though.

In response to the study, Dr Kotryna Temcinaite, director of research communications at Breast Cancer Now, stated: "For both types of contraceptives, this added risk of breast cancer reduces over time if you stop using them."

The study did not take into account the women's past use of hormonal contraceptives or how long they may have been using progestogen-only contraception, the author continued.

Additionally, it did not take into account whether a family history of the illness raised their risk. Therefore, more research is necessary to fully understand the effects of using this kind of contraception.

Breast cancer in young women is uncommon. Only a few extra cases of the disease are diagnosed due to a slight increase in risk while a woman is using hormonal contraception.

Just under six million prescriptions for combined hormonal contraceptives were written in England in 2008, according to NHS data, compared to fewer than two million for the progestogen-only pill. However, by 2020 the gap had closed and there were roughly 3.2 million prescriptions for both.