Does taking provera monthly increase your risk for cancer?

So is it safe for me to take progesterone on a monthly basis?

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for writing!

"The possibility of a link between Depo-Provera and breast cancer was first considered in the early 1970s, after breast cancers were found in beagles treated for more than three years with a dose of Depo-Provera equivalent to 25 times that of the human contraceptive dose. However, those studies were eventually discounted at an October 1981 meeting of the World Health Organization. Experts at that meeting concluded, and the FDA later agreed, that beagles were not appropriate animal models for determining what the potential effects of Depo-Provera would be on women.

Ten years later, WHO presented the results of a study of over 11,000 women who used Depo-Provera, mainly in Thailand and New Zealand. (The drug has been approved for contraception in about 90 countries.) Based on the study, published in the October 5, 1991 issue of the Lancet , WHO concluded that, overall, women on Depo-Provera are not at increased risk of breast cancer. In addition, breast cancer risk did not increase the longer a woman stayed on the injectable contraceptive. The WHO position on Depo-Provera in 2007 remains that there is no evidence of a causation link between Depo-Provera and breast cancer."

For the complete article on Depo-Provera, visit: https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/depo-provera-quarterly-contraceptive

Hope this answers your question!

Rosa