Last March, Health Insurance and the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) published a study revealing an increased risk of meningioma in women taking certain progestogen medications: Colprone, Depo Provera and Surgestone.
Here are the details of this study.
A study carried out on more than 18,000 women
French researchers, from the Epi-Phare group (scientific interest group made up of the ANSM and Health Insurance), were interested in the risk of meningioma (tumor that develops from the meninges) linked to taking three progestogen drugs: Colprone, Depo Provera and Surgestone.
These medications can be used as contraceptives, as hormone replacement therapy for menopause, to treat endometriosis or even uterine bleeding.
The authors of this study, published in the prestigious British Medical Journal, analyzed data from more than 18,000 women aged 45 to 47 who had meningioma surgery between 2009 and 2018. They then compared this data to that of 90,000 other women.
A risk multiplied by 2, or even 5, after one year of use
Scientists have concluded that prolonged use (at least a year) of these drugs increases the risk of meningeal tumors requiring surgery.
In detail, this risk is 3.5 times greater in these women for Colprone (based on medrogestone), 5.6 times greater for Depo Provera (based on medroxyprogesterone acetate) and 2 times greater for Surgestone (based on promegestone), a drug which has no longer been marketed in France since 2020.
This is not the first time that progestin-only drugs have been singled out for their risk of meningioma. Previous studies had observed an increased risk of meningioma linked to the use of Androcur, Lutéran and Lutenyl.
No danger for women treated for less than a year
The study indicates that this increased risk was not observed in women treated with these molecules for less than a year.
However, the researchers point out that “if women used another risky progestin before switching to Colprone, they have an increased risk of meningioma without waiting a year”. Women in this situation are invited to carry out a IRM.
These conclusions are currently based on observations. But, according to Alain Weil, deputy director of the Epi-Phare group, “there is very clearly a causal link, because a set of studies converge and the biological mechanisms of progestins on meningeal tissues are known”.
Note that no increased risk has been observed with the hormonal IUD, implanted in approximately 2 million women in France.
Journalist
May 20, 2024, at 5:10 a.m.
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