Yasmina Kattou // Photo credit: LOIC VENANCE / AFP 6:28 a.m., March 29, 2024, modified at 6:29 a.m., March 29, 2024
According to a study by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products, taking certain progestin hormones is associated with an increased risk of developing a brain tumor. These drugs, prescribed to women against infertility, menopause, endometriosis or simply as contraceptives, used by 74 million women worldwide.
Taking certain progestin hormones could have serious health consequences, according to a study published in
The British Medical Journal
. A study which focused on nearly 110,000 women who underwent surgery for a meningioma, a benign brain tumor, but which requires delicate surgery.
It is advisable to do an MRI to confirm the absence of tumor
Among them, 18,000 took progestins. Results, the scientists found that the use of at least one year of the three treatments in question increases the risk of tumors explains Alain Weill, of the ANSM who supervised the study: "Patients who have prolonged use have 3.5 times more meningiomas than those who have not had them. Depo-Provera is associated with a 5.6-fold increased risk and Promegestone is associated with a three-fold increased risk."
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The risk appears after one year of treatment. Women who use these products are advised to have an MRI to confirm the absence of a tumor. The study is also intended to be reassuring regarding hormonal contraceptives such as the IUD, no increased risk of meningioma was observed.