Women who use Depo-Provera face a higher risk of developing a slow-growing brain tumor, known as a meningioma, while the contraceptive’s maker, Pfizer, faces hundreds of lawsuits claiming that it was aware of the potential risks.
The brand name for depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), Depo-Provera, contains the synthetic progestin hormone and is used by roughly 1 in 4 sexually active US women at some point.
Now, more research has found other common hormonal birth control drugs that carry the same risk.
Published in JAMA Network Open, researchers at the Danish Medicines Agency looked at 25 years of health data from around 3 million women.
The study not only confirmed the risk with Depo-Provera, but also found small increases in risk of rare but treatable meningioma tumors with five other birth control medications, including combined oral contraceptives and the mini-pill.
These included drugs that contain desogestrel, drospirenone, gestodene and levonorgestrel — all used in hormonal contraception.
Depo-Provera showed the strongest link with meningioma tumors, with a relative increase in risk of about 4-fold.
Meanwhile, the combined oral contraception and mini-pill showed weaker associations, with a relative risk increase of 1.5-fold.
However, the absolute risk of developing a tumor while taking certain birth control pills is still low.
While 5 women per 1,000 will develop a meningioma in their lifetime, the number only increased to 6 per 1,000 women using medroxyprogesterone.
Most notably, the risk only persists while using the birth control, and disappears within five years of stopping progestogen.
“These very small increases in risk need to be balanced against the benefits of different forms of contraception,” cancer epidemiologist Paul Pharoah, who was not involved with the original study, said in a press release.
“It is important that women do not stop using their birth control pills without consulting their doctor,” he added.
While meningioma is typically benign, the tumors can cause problems by putting pressure on nerves or brain structures.
They also affect women more than twice as often as men, likely due to hormones that can fuel tumor growth.
When they’re malignant, the tumors can cause seizures and cognitive issues, and are typically removed surgically or treated with radiation therapy.
One woman — Elizabeth Fleurisma, one of 75 New Yorkers suing Pfizer — experienced severe headaches, fatigue and excruciating pain after taking Depo-Provera for nearly a decade.
While she underwent a craniotomy, not all of the tumor could be removed and she had to undergo radiation multiple times a week.
“When I came out of surgery, when I came home, it’s almost like I didn’t even know my environment,” Fleurisma previously told The Post.
She continues to experience vision troubles, headaches, nausea and dizziness.
The FDA approved a new label for the Depo-Provera injection that warns customers of a possible connection to meningiomas in December 2025.
