Research indicates that contraceptive pills may reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer.

Despite their primary role in preventing pregnancy, contraceptive pills may also help reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer, according to a new study from the University of South Australia.

By screening risk factors for ovarian cancer using artificial intelligence, researchers at the University of South Australia found that oral contraceptives lower the risk of ovarian cancer by 26% among women who have ever taken the pills, and by 43% among women who began using them after the age of 45.

The study also identified certain biomarkers associated with the risk of ovarian cancer, including specific red blood cell parameters and certain liver enzymes in the blood, and noted that lower body mass and shorter height are linked to a reduced risk of ovarian cancer.

Researchers also discovered that women who have given birth to two or more children have a 39% lower risk of developing ovarian cancer compared to those who have never had children.

In Australia, ovarian cancer is the tenth most common cancer among women and the sixth most common cause of cancer-related death in women. In 2023, ovarian cancer was diagnosed in 1,786 women in Australia; the same year, 1,050 women died from the disease.

UniSA researcher Dr. Amanda Lumsden believes that understanding the risks and preventive factors of ovarian cancer is crucial for improving treatment and outcomes.

“Ovarian cancer is known to be diagnosed at late stages: about 70% of cases are detected only when the disease has significantly progressed,” says Dr. Lumsden. “Late detection leads to a five-year survival rate of less than 30%, whereas for ovarian cancer diagnosed at an early stage, this rate exceeds 90%. That’s why identifying risk factors is so important.”

In this study, scientists found that women who used oral contraceptives had a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer, and for those who began taking the pills after the age of 40, the risk was even lower. This raises the question of whether interventions that reduce the number of ovulations could be a potential target for ovarian cancer prevention strategies.

The research, conducted with support from MRFF, utilized artificial intelligence to evaluate data from 221,732 women (aged 37-73) from the UK Biobank.

Machine learning expert Dr. Iqbal Madakkatel from the University of South Africa states that the study demonstrates how artificial intelligence can help identify risk factors that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“We included information on nearly 3,000 different characteristics related to health, medication use, nutrition and lifestyle, physical measurements, metabolic and hormonal factors, each of which was measured at the beginning of the study,” said Dr. Iqbal Madakkatel, machine learning expert at the University of South Africa.

Interestingly, some blood indicators measured an average of 12.6 years before diagnosis predicted the risk of developing ovarian cancer, suggesting that tests may soon be developed to identify women at risk at a very early stage.

Identifying risk factors for ovarian cancer can help improve survival rates through prevention and earlier detection.

Based on the study's findings, it can be suggested that using contraceptive pills to reduce the number of ovulations or lowering the level of harmful fat mass could yield positive results in cancer prevention for women at the highest risk.