Researchers pooled information from 24 studies and found that oral contraceptive users had a 27% lower risk of ovarian cancer.  The longer the use of the Pill, the more protection noted.  (If the Pill was taken for 10 years or longer, the risk was half as likely to develop ovarian cancer compared to those who never used them.)

The researchers state that this doesn’t PROVE that the Pill decreases ovarian cancer.  There may have been other confounding differences between women who took the Pill and those who didn’t.

For background, 1 in 72 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her lifetime.  Often, ovarian cancer is found at an advanced stage which makes it difficult to cure.  So, researchers are eager to find ways to decrease a woman’s chance of developing it in the first place.

Want to see more?  Look up Obstetrics and Gynecology Journal, online June 6, 2013.