Mortality among contraceptive pill users: cohort evidence from Royal College of General Practitioners' Oral Contraception Study -- Hannaford et al. 340: c927 -- BMJ

Objective: To see if the mortality risk among women who have used oral contraceptives differs from that of never users.
Design: Prospective cohort study started in 1968 with mortality data supplied by participating general practitioners, National Health Service central registries, or both.
Setting: 1400 general practices throughout the United Kingdom.
Participants: 46 112 women observed for up to 39 years, resulting in 378 006 woman years of observation among never users of oral contraception and 819 175 among ever users.
Results:
....1747 deaths occurred in never users of oral contraception and 2864 in ever users. Compared with never users, ever users of oral contraception had a significantly lower rate of death from any cause (adjusted relative risk 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.82 to 0.93). They also had significantly lower rates of death from all cancers; large bowel/rectum, uterine body, and ovarian cancer; main gynaecological cancers combined; all circulatory disease; ischaemic heart disease; and all other diseases...cont'd