A new study from France has found that taking the progestogen-only birth control pill desogestrel for more than five years is linked to a small increased risk of developing a type of brain tumor known as intracranial meningioma. The findings were published in The BMJ and are based on nationwide health data.
Meningiomas are usually non-cancerous tumors that grow slowly in the tissue covering the brain. While many don’t cause symptoms, some can grow large enough to require surgery. These tumors are more common in older women, and hormones—especially progestogens—have been suspected as a possible contributing factor.
What makes this study important is that it looked specifically at the type and length of hormone use, which most earlier studies didn’t. The researchers focused on three types of oral contraceptives:
Desogestrel 75 µg
Levonorgestrel 30 µg
Levonorgestrel (50–150 µg) combined with estrogen
They examined data from over 8,000 women who had surgery for a meningioma between 2020 and 2023 and compared them with nearly 84,000 women of the same age and location who did not have the tumor.
The key finding was that women who took desogestrel continuously for more than five years had a slightly higher chance of needing surgery for meningioma. However, this risk went back to normal within a year of stopping the medication. There was no increased risk for women who used it for less than a year or had stopped it more than a year ago.
To put the numbers into perspective:
1 in 67,000 women using desogestrel might need surgery for meningioma.
That risk increases to 1 in 17,000 for women who use it for more than five years and are still using it.
The risk was greater in:
Women over the age of 45
Women with tumors located at the front or middle of the skull
Women who had previously taken other high-risk progestogens (like cyproterone or nomegestrol)
Reassuringly, the study found no link between meningioma risk and use of levonorgestrel, either alone or in combination with estrogen, no matter how long it was used.
This was an observational study, meaning it can’t prove that desogestrel caused the brain tumors. The researchers couldn’t account for some personal health details, like genetics or exposure to radiation, that may also influence brain tumor risk.
Still, the data came from a large, real-world population and included the use of other high-risk hormone medications, which strengthens the findings.
Experts suggest that women diagnosed with a meningioma while taking desogestrel may not need immediate surgery. Instead, simply stopping the medication could be enough, as has already been shown for other progestogens. In a related editorial, neurosurgeon Dr. Gilles Reuter noted that stopping desogestrel could avoid unnecessary treatment in some cases.
In summary, while the overall risk remains very low, the study suggests caution with long-term use of desogestrel. Women using this medication—especially for more than five years—should speak with their healthcare provider about risks, especially if other risk factors are present.
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The research findings can be found in The BMJ.
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