There are research about hormonal contraception including birth control pills, vaginal rings and skin patches that suggest risk for heart attacks and strokes is twice as high among users of combined estrogen-progestin version. Analyzing from 15 years of observational date from 1.6 million women aged 15-49, found that those taking low-dose estrogen birth control pills combined with various progestins suffered heart attacks and strokes between 1.5 and 2 times more often than women not using hormonal contraception.
The risks were between 2.5 and 3 times higher among users of vaginal rings and transdermal patches compared to non-users. The study is scheduled to be published in June 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The US Food and Drug Administration has announced that birth contol pills containing drospirenone – a man-made version of the hormone progesterone included in products such as Bayer’s Yaz or Yasmin. It would require updated labels since these contraceptives may be linked to a highere risk of blood clots. That will change pinpointed risks associated with blood clots in veins.
“Pills are still very beneficial. I wouldn’t want a study like this … to tell us these are dangerous drugs,” said Dr. Kathleen Hoeger, chief of the division of reproductive endocrinology and director of the Strong Fertility Center at the University of Rochester, in New York. “The drugs have risks, and those risks are really well-defined. This data gives doctors a lot of confidence to be able to offer advice.”
The study include data from the entire population of Danish women of childbearing age and was 10 times as large as similar study make in US that also assesed the comparative risks of arterial clots among hormonal contraceptive users.
Significantly higher rates of heart attack and stroke result from clots in arteries were recorded among women with diabetes and high blood pressure and among those over age 35. The relative odds of suffering a heart attack doubled among those aged 40 to 44 compared to those aged 35 to 39 and increased by an additional one-third thereafter.
Source :- Health MSN
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