Women with a family history of ovarian cancer can be tested for the BRCA 1 or 2 breast cancer gene mutation. For reasons that scientists don't know, a woman with the BRCA l gene has a 35%-70% higher risk of ovarian cancer than those without it; women with the BRCA 2 gene have a 10%-30% higher risk.
By comparison, women without the gene mutation carry only a 1.5% risk of ovarian cancer.
Myth #7: Birth control pills can increase your ovarian cancer risk.
Not only is this wrong, but the exact opposite is true, Dr. Nezhat says.
"If you take birth control pills regularly and continuously, they decrease the risk," he says.
In fact, Dr. Buhl advises that her patients with the BRCA 1 or 2 breast cancer gene to go on birth control pills.
Exactly how oral contraceptives help isn't known, but researchers believe that each time a woman ovulates, the irritation and stimulation of the ovary increases the risk of cancer. Birth control pills limit – or prevent – ovulation.
The longer women are on birth control pills, the greater the protection, according to a 2008 Oxford University analysis of 45 studies. Women taking the pill for 15 years or longer, for example, cut their ovarian cancer risk by 58%.
"And if they're on them for several years, the protection will last even after they stop taking the pills," Dr. Buhl says.
The Oxford analysis found that the protective effect diminished each year women were off the pill, but that some protection remained for 30 years or longer.
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