- Prolonged use can cause ovarian cancer, says Gynaecologist
Using fertility drugs without a doctor’s prescription and supervision may predispose women to serious health risks, a consultant gynaecologist, Dr. Adeleke Kaka has warned. The maternal health expert said if drugs that induce ovulation are used for too long, they could predispose the user to ovarian cancer because of changes to the ovaries. Dr. Kaka, a former Medical Director, at the Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos, at a recent interview, advised women experiencing infertility challenges not to use ovulation-inducing drugs without the supervision of a maternal health specialist.
There are concerns that some women experiencing difficulty with conception indulge in self-medication without knowing the state of their ovaries or if it is the best option for them. Ovulation induction, according to the physician, is the stimulation of the ovary by medication. He said such drugs should only be taken based on the advice of a doctor who should also monitor the usage. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, about 25 per cent of infertile women have problems with ovulation, adding that they may ovulate less often or not at all.
The gynaecologist explained, “Ovulation-inducing drugs must not be used unregulated. It has to be used under the supervision of a consultant gynaecologist or obstetrician. “It is not advisable to use it without supervision because of the risk of developing ovarian cancer. For those that need it, we use it on them within a safe period. “Now, because it is readily available and also because in Nigeria, people just walk into a pharmacy to buy drugs without a doctor’s prescription, it has become commonplace. “Some people even recommend it to their friends and they will be using it for months. “By using it on and on, such women expose themselves to ovarian cancer because the risk is there.
This may not happen immediately but years after.” Dr. Kaka, also said women that ovulate regularly also risk developing ovarian cancer. “There is a higher predisposition to developing ovarian cancer because of the ovarian changes. One of the things that have been looked at as a possible cause of ovarian cancer is incessant ovulation, especially when a woman ovulates from time to time and regularly. “So, there will be those changes because there is a rupture of the follicle and there is turnover of the wall of the ovary,” he said. He noted that ovarian cancer is common in menopausal women, adding, “Women whose menopause come late, say, in their 50s, have the likelihood of developing ovarian cancer than those whose menopause came earlier because of the number of times they ovulated in their reproductive life.”
The gynaecologist advised women to visit maternal health specialists if they experience ovulation, menstrual disorders or fertility issues. An institutional-based study on Women’s Knowledge of Ovarian Cancer Symptoms and Risk Factors in Nigeria published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health found that ovarian cancer is the second most common and the deadliest gynaecological malignancy in Nigeria. In a 2020 study by Uppsala University in Sweden, the researchers, however, found that oral contraceptive use protects against ovarian and endometrial cancer. The study involving more than 250,000 women showed that the protective effect remains for several decades after discontinuation.
In the study published in the journal, Cancer Research, the scientists compared the incidence of breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers between women that had used oral contraceptive pills and those who had not. One of the leading researchers of the study, who works at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology of Uppsala University, Åsa Johansson, said, “It was clear that women who had used oral contraceptive pills had a much lower risk of developing both ovarian and endometrial cancer. “Fifteen years after discontinuing oral contraceptives, the risk was about 50 per cent lower. However, a decreased risk was still detected up to 30-35 years after discontinuation. “Surprisingly, we only found a small increased risk of breast cancer among oral contraceptive users, and the increased risk disappeared within a few years after discontinuation.”
