Birth Control

Researchers at the School of Public Health reported yesterday that women who take birth-control pills for long periods get fewer benign tumors of the breast than women who do not take the pill.

The report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that women who had taken the pill for at least two years had a 60 per cent lower chance of developing benign breast tumors than those who did not. Women who have benign tumors are more likely to develop breast cancer than other women.

Dr. Brian MacMahon, professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health and a co-author of the report, said yesterday the report is not a significant breakthrough, but rather a confirmation of the work of others.

The report is based on studies begun in 1970 of 97,000 Boston-area women.