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There is a high risk of leukaemia in children born by women taking hormonal contraceptives, according to a new study.
The study published by Lancet indicates that the use of hormonal contraceptives by women has been suspected of increasing the risk of childhood cancer. Leukaemia is cancer of the blood-forming tissues, including bone marrow.
The study, done in Denmark, picked more than 1 million children born between 1996 and 2014 listed in Danish Medical Birth Registry and identified those diagnosed with leukaemia in Danish Cancer Registry.
This was correlated with prescriptions from Danish National Prescription Registry that provided information on maternal hormonal contraceptive use.
The women who used the contraceptives were categorised into three; those who had not used or never used contraception before birth; those with a previous use of more than three months before start of pregnancy, and finally those who had recent use of less than three months before and during pregnancy.
From the study, 606 children were diagnosed with leukaemia, of which 465 had lymphoid leukaemia and 141 non-lymphoid leukaemia. The children born by women with a recent use of hormonal contraception were at higher risk of developing blood cancer.
“Hormonal contraception use close to or during pregnancy might have resulted in one additional case of leukaemia per about 50,000 exposed children, or 25 cases during the nine-year study period,” the study said.
No study has made the link before, and researchers see this as a major milestone that will lead to more research into the causes and prevention of leukaemia in children.
The study was funded by The Danish Cancer Research Foundation, the Arvid Nilssons Foundation, the Gangsted Foundation, the Harboe Foundation and the Johannes Clemmesens Foundation. “Since the absolute risk of childhood leukaemia remains low, the increased risk found is not a major health concern. However, our findings suggest that maternal hormonal use affects leukaemia development in children,” the study said.
Steady increase
According to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey data of 2014, contraceptive use by Kenyan women has been on a steady increase since 1989. By 1989, contraceptive use in the country was 27 per cent. It now stands at 58 per cent.
Six in every 10 (60 per cent) of sexually active unmarried women aged between 15-49 years in Kenya use a modern form of contraception. Twenty two per cent use injectable contraceptives, seven per cent use implants, seven per cent use hormonal pills, 21 per cent use male condoms and five per cent use traditional methods.
Of the married women, 53 per cent use modern contraceptive methods. Twenty six per cent use injectables, 10 per cent implants, eight per cent are on hormonal pills, two per cent use male condoms and five per cent use traditional methods. The demand for contraceptive use in the country remains high at 76 per cent.
Leukaemia is cancer of the blood-forming tissues, including bone marrow. There are many different types of leukaemia, either acute or chronic, and it is the commonest cancer in children globally.
In leukaemia, blood-forming tissues in the body produce a high number of white blood cells that outnumber the red blood cells and the platelets. These white blood cells do not function normally, they cannot fight infections as normal white blood cells would. Consequently, it affects the function of the major organs in the body because the body has inadequate red blood cells to supply oxygen, inadequate platelets to clot the blood, and inadequate normal white blood cells to fight infection.
Symptoms may include fatigue, weight loss, frequent infections and easy bleeding or bruising in an affected child.
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