Combined oral contraception and cancer.

Since their introduction in the 1960s the safety of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) has been widely debated. The difficulty in determining if COC use increases the risk of developing cancer is due to: • the long latent period between exposure to the potential carcinogen and overt malignant disease • the fact that due to the developments in COCs women are likely to have taken a variety of different pills • the paucity of data on the use of COCs in women over the age of 35.