In fiscal year 2003, investigators published results from the NICHD Women’s Contraceptive and Reproductive Experiences (Women’s CARE) Study, a retrospective case-control study of approximately 5,000 women, ages 35 to 64, supported by the Contraception and Reproductive Health Branch. Women’s CARE was designed to study the associations between lifetime hormone use and breast cancer risk with primary objectives to:
- Compare breast cancer risk of OC users to never-users;
- Evaluate the impact of various patterns of OC use to breast cancer risk;
- Examine the use of OCs in different time of life on breast cancer risk;
- Elucidate the role of formulation, dose, and type of estrogens/progestins; and
- Assess postmenopausal hormone therapy in modifying the impact of OC use on breast cancer risk.
Secondary objectives included the identification of breast cancer risks other than OC use (including the effect of race), and the examination of biologic specimens (i.e., blood and tumor tissue). The study relied on contracts with five academic clinical sites and an interagency agreement for data coordination support with the CDC.
The research centers participating in the NICHD Women's CARE Study were Emory University in Atlanta, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was the Data Coordinating Center.
