Melanoma and chronic exposure to contraceptives containing microdoses of ethinylestradiol in young women: a retrospective study from the Research on Adverse Drug Events and Reports (RADAR) project comprising a large Midwestern U.S. patient population

An association between the use of contraceptives containing exogenous estrogen compounds and subsequent diagnosis for malignant melanoma (MM) has been suspected for decades. This is, in part, due to the finding that estrogen stimulates melanogenesis1 and the observation that the incidence of MM is greater in women vs. men before the age of 50, but lower than men after the age of 502, corresponding with the average age of menopause when estrogen levels dramatically decrease. Prior studies assessing the relationship between the incidence of MM and exposure to exogenous estrogen provide conflicting results3-6. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.