Levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system use is associated with a decreased risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer, without increased risk of breast cancer. Results from the NOWAC Study.

OBJECTIVE

Women with ovarian cancer have poor survival rates, which have proven difficult to improve; therefore primary prevention is important. The levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) prevents endometrial cancer, and recent studies suggested that it may also prevent ovarian cancer, but with a concurrent increased risk of breast cancer. We compared adjusted risks of ovarian, endometrial, and breast cancer in ever users and never users of LNG-IUS.

METHODS

Our study cohort consisted of 104,318 women from the Norwegian Women and Cancer Study, 9144 of whom were ever users and 95,174 of whom were never users of LNG-IUS. Exposure information was taken from self-administered questionnaires, and cancer cases were identified through linkage to the Cancer Registry of Norway. Relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated with Poisson regression using robust error estimates.

RESULTS

Median age at inclusion was 52years and mean follow-up time was 12.5 (standard deviation 3.7) years, for a total of 1,305,435 person-years. Among ever users of LNG-IUS there were 18 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer, 15 cases of endometrial cancer, and 297 cases of breast cancer. When ever users were compared to never users of LNG-IUS, the multivariable RR of ovarian, endometrial, and breast cancer was 0.53 (95% CI: 0.32, 0.88), 0.22 (0.13, 0.40), and 1.03 (0.91, 1.17), respectively.

CONCLUSION

In this population-based prospective cohort study, ever users of LNG-IUS had a strongly reduced risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer compared to never users, with no increased risk of breast cancer.