Certain progestogen drugs are thought to increase the risk of meningiomas Progestogens are similar to the hormone progesterone used in contraception Women who use the contraceptive injection are at an increased risk of developing the most common type of brain tumour, new research suggests.

Long term use of medroxyprogesterone acetate – known under the brand name Depo Provera – was found to raise the risk of meningioma more than five-fold.

Experts said that while the risks remained low, the findings suggest that some cases of meningioma will be the result of certain birth control medications.

NHS prescription data suggests there are around 10,000 prescriptions for medroxyprogesterone acetate every month in England.

Typically, an estimated 40 out of 10,000 30-year-old women in the UK would be expected to be diagnosed with a meningioma before the age of 80.

This rises to 200 in 10,000, based on these findings published in the British Medical Journal. 

Meningioma is a tumour that arises from the meninges, a membrane that envelops the brain and the spinal cord.

It is usually non-cancerous and is often slow-growing but can ultimately be fatal because of where it forms.

Previous research has linked some types of progestogens – a synthetic version of the natural hormone progesterone – to tumours but this is the first to look at the links in birth control.

Researchers from the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety studied several types of progestogens for contraceptives and HRT, with Depo Provera the only type with a higher associated risk that is used in the UK.

They used data from the French national health system for 18,061 women, with an average age 58, who underwent meningioma surgery from 2009-18.

Each case was matched to five control women without meningioma (total 90,305) by year of birth and area of residence.

The results showed that prolonged use of the contraceptive jab – of over 12 months - was associated with a 5.6-fold increased risk of meningioma.

They concluded: 'In countries for which the use of medroxyprogesterone acetate for birth control is frequent (74 million users worldwide), the number of attributable meningiomas may be potentially high.'

While an observational study meaning the link has yet to be proven, scientists suggest there is growing evidence of a risk.

Daily mail