Overview

• The study analyzed data from 8,391 women who underwent meningioma surgery between 2020 and 2023 and 83,910 matched controls from France’s national health database to assess contraceptive impacts.
• Women taking desogestrel continuously for over five years faced a slightly elevated risk, with researchers estimating one additional surgery case per 17,000 long-term users and one per 67,000 overall.
• No increased meningioma risk was observed for levonorgestrel-only pills or levonorgestrel combined with estrogen, regardless of duration of use.
• Excess risk was greater among women older than 45, those with tumours in the front or middle skull, and individuals with prior use of other high-risk progestogens.
• Authors advise discontinuing desogestrel if an intracranial meningioma is identified and monitoring patients rather than immediate surgery, noting risk normalizes within a year of stopping