避孕藥或有助於預防某些癌症

In the U.S., nearly all sexually active women have used a form of birth control at some point in their lives, and 11 million women rely on the pill.
在美國，幾乎所有有性生活的女性都會在生命的某個階段採取避孕措施，1100萬名女性依賴藥物避孕。

In a new study published in JAMA Oncology, researchers explore how oral contraceptives, which affect women's hormone levels to prevent pregnancy, affect cancer risk. They found that women taking the pill lowered their risks of ovarian and endometrial cancer-a known benefit of the pill. The researchers also analyzed other factors that might affect the risk, including obesity, smoking status and physical activity levels.
JAMA Oncology期刊上發表了一項新研究，研究人員探索了口服避孕藥是如何影響癌症風險的，這種避孕藥通過影響女性的激素水平防止她們懷孕。他們發現服用避孕藥的女性降低了她們患卵巢癌和子宮內膜癌的風險--這是避孕藥的一個已知益處。研究人員還分析了其它可能影響患病風險的因素，包括肥胖、抽菸狀況和身體活動水平。

In addition to finding that the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancers were lower among women who used the pill, the study found that the longer women were on oral contraceptives, the lower their risk was. For those taking the pill for 10 years or more, the risk of ovarian cancer was 40% lower compared to women who had never used the pill or used them for less than a year, and 34% lower for endometrial cancer.
除了發現服用避孕藥的女性有較低的患子宮內膜癌和卵巢癌的風險，研究還發現：口服避孕藥的時間越長，患這兩種癌症的風險越低。相比那些從沒口服過避孕藥或口服不足一年的女性，那些服藥10年及以上者，她們患卵巢癌的風險要低40%，患子宮內膜癌的風險要低34%。

That confirms what earlier studies found, but the current study also delved deeper into how oral contraceptives and cancer risk differed among women with different risk factors for cancer. When the scientists looked at lifestyle factors that might affect the cancer risk among pill users, for example, they found that women who used the pill and were obese, smoked or did not exercise had among the lowest ovarian cancer rates. It's not clear why, but the researchers speculate that in the case of smokers, there may be some interaction among the hormones associated with oral contraceptives and tobacco.
這證明了早期的研究發現，但目前的研究更加深入，探討了口服避孕藥和癌症風險因人而異，因爲不同女性患癌的風險因素也不盡相同。當科學家研究生活方式因素時，這一因素可能會影響服藥者的癌症風險，比如，他們發現：服用藥物、肥胖、抽菸或不運動的女性患卵巢癌的風險最低。目前原因尚不清楚，但研究人員推測，就吸菸者而言，口服避孕藥激素和菸草激素可能會產生一些反應。

"We found long-term oral contraceptive use reduced ovarian cancer risk universally - it didn't matter how healthy you were later in life or if you had a family history of the disease; all women experienced the benefit," said Britton Trabert, the study's senior author and epidemiologist from the division of cancer epidemiology and genetics at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
"我們發現長期口服避孕藥能普遍降低患卵巢癌的風險--不管你後來的生活狀況是否健康、也不管你是否有這種疾病的家庭史，所有女性都能從中獲益，"Britton Trabert說道，他是該研究的資深作者，也是美國癌症研究所癌症流行病學和遺傳學部門的流行病學家。

For endometrial cancer, women who were obese and used the pill for 10 years or more lowered their risk of developing the cancer, while women who were normal weight and used oral contraceptives did not.
至於子宮內膜癌，肥胖且服用藥物10年及以上的女性患該種癌症的風險降低，而體重正常且口服避孕藥的人卻沒有降低患癌風險。