Jul 28, 2009 / 22:14 pm
A Turkish researcher has reported a statistically significant 66 percent increase in breast cancer risk among women who have had an abortion.
Dr. Vahit Ozmen and his colleagues at the Istanbul Medical Faculty and Magee-Women's hospital conducted a retrospective study in breast cancer risk factors which discovered the connection. Their study was published in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology, an open access, peer reviewed online medical journal.
The researchers also reviewed the contemporary literature on the possible abortion-breast cancer link, saying “the majority of the studies reported that induced abortion was associated with increased breast cancer risk.”
Their study also found significantly decreased breast cancer risks for women who use oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy. According to the Poughkeepsie, New York-based Breast Cancer Prevention Institute (BCPI), this contradicts findings of the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Cancer Institute and “what has been almost universally observed around the world.”