Study: Women Who Use IUDs May Have Lower Risk Of Ovarian Cancer

BOSTON (CBS) - Not only do IUDs prevent pregnancy, they may lower the risk of ovarian cancer in the women who use them.

Researchers at the University of Colorado reviewed a dozen prior studies involving several thousand patients and found that women who used IUDs were up to 32-percent less likely than other women to develop ovarian cancer.

It's not clear why, but scientists found that the hormones released by some IUDs may block estrogen which help ovarian tumor glow. And having a foreign body in the uterus may trigger the immune system to help fight cancer.

Birth control pills have also been linked to a lower risk of ovarian cancer.