The pill appears to protect against ovarian cancer

Birth control pills give long-term protection against ovarian cancer, a new study finds. Past work has shown that birth control pills afford some protection against ovarian cancer, but researchers did not know how long this beneficial effect lasted. In a new study led by Valerie Beral from the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University, researchers compiled data from 45 previous studies that included about 23,000 women with ovarian cancer and 87,000 without it. Just over 30 percent of the women with cancer and 37 percent of those without cancer had taken the pill for some period of time. They found that using the pill for a decade or more reduced ovarian cancer risk by almost one-third and the protection lasted 30 years after pill usage had stopped. They also found that the longer a woman was on the pill the more it reduced cancer risk. This beneficial effect was consistent, regardless of ethnicity, education, or alcohol and tobacco consumption, they found.

BOTTOM LINE: "Women do not have to worry about bad side effects from taking the pill," said Beral. "We know now that the pill actually offers protection against ovarian cancer."

CAUTIONS: This is the first study to look at long-term benefits of the pill and more work is needed to confirm the results. The study also looks at just ovarian cancer; other side effects have to be taken into consideration to fully understand whether the positives outweigh the negatives.

WHAT'S NEXT: Beral's group wants to look at the effect of the pill in reducing endometrial cancer risk.

WHERE TO FIND IT: The Lancet, Jan. 26

SENA DESAI GOPAL

An herbal extract made from the dried leaves and flowers of the hawthorn, a shrub or small tree, has been thought to have properties that affect how hard the heart beats and the way blood flows through the coronary vessels. Some clinical studies have gone so far as to suggest that it improves symptoms related to heart failure. To figure out whether hawthorn really might have a beneficial effect, Dr. M.H. Pittler and colleagues at the Peninsula Medical School, UK, reviewed 14 trials that tested hawthorn on more than 800 heart failure patients. Most of the patients surveyed were ages 50 to 74, had heart failure with mild symptoms, and had prior heart attacks, diabetes, or high cholesterol. Patients either received hawthorn or a placebo, in addition to other standard heart failure medications. Researchers found that patients who took hawthorn with their regular medications had an improved maximum workload of their heart when they were stressed on treadmills. Further, they also had a significant increase in exercise tolerance and reduced symptoms of shortness of breath and fatigue - suggesting that the hawthorn extract might have a place among useful heart failure medications.

BOTTOM LINE: Hawthorn extract may provide some benefit over placebo when used with regular medications in some heart failure patients. "However," Pittler cautions, "heart failure should not be taken lightly . . . herbal medications shouldn't be used without the knowledge and recommendation of a licensed doctor."

CAUTIONS: This review surveyed a limited number of studies - further follow-up is required before hawthorn is established as a useful medication in the treatment of heart failure.

WHAT'S NEXT: The review on hawthorn will be updated in two years to reflect any additional research findings.

WHERE TO FIND IT: The Cochrane Library, Issue 1, 2008

SUSHRUT JANGI