Objective

To assess the risk of intracranial meningioma associated with oral contraceptives containing desogestrel, levonorgestrel, or levonorgestrel combined with oestrogen.

Design

Case-control study.

Setting

French national health data system (Système National des Données de Santé).

Participants

8391 women living in France who required surgery for intracranial meningioma in 2020-23. Each patient was matched to 10 women without intracranial meningioma (controls) on year of birth and area of residence.

Main outcome measure

Risk of intracranial meningioma associated with oral contraceptives containing desogestrel 75µg, levonorgestrel 30µg, or levonorgestrel 50-150 µg combined with oestrogen, and duration of use: short term use was defined by one or more dispensations within the year before the index date only, and prolonged use was defined by continuous use of one year or more (up to seven or more years of continuous use). Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios.

Results

92 301 women, mean age 59.7 years (standard deviation 12.9 years), were included. Among 8391women who had undergone surgery for intracranial meningioma, 287 (3.4%) used desogestrel 75µg (v 2769/83 910 (3.3%) controls), 17 (0.2%) used levonorgestrel 30 µg (v 140 (0.2%)), and 157 (1.9%) used levonorgestrel combined with oestrogen (v 1933 (2.3%)). In analyses of desogestrel according to duration of use, the odds ratio for risk of intracranial meningioma for short term use was 1.02 (95% confidence interval 0.77 to 1.34) and for prolonged use was 1.32 (1.14 to 1.53).

Risk was driven by more than five continuous years of use: odds ratio 1.51 (1.17 to 1.94) for five to seven years and 2.09 (1.51 to 2.90) for ≥7 years. Excess risk was greater in women with meningiomas located in the middle or anterior part of the skull base (1.90 (1.47 to 2.46) and 1.50 (1.17 to 1.93), respectively) and in those who had previously used a progestogen of known associated increased risk (3.30 (2.64 to 4.11)).

Results showed no excess risk of intracranial meningioma for levonorgestrel (alone or combined with oestrogen) regardless of duration of use. The estimated number needed to harm with desogestrel was 67 300 women for one intracranial meningioma requiring surgery. Risk was no longer observed one year after discontinuation of desogestrel.

Conclusions

The results showed a small increased risk of intracranial meningioma in women who had used desogestrel 75 µg for more than five continuous years, but no risk in users of levonorgestrel (alone or combined with oestrogen).