Commentary Background Two case-control studies, both with the involvement of the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, have recently been published in the British Medical Journal (Jick et al. 1 and Parkin et al. 2) in which increased risks of venous throm-boembolism (VTE) among users of drospirenone (DRSP)-containing oral contraceptives (OCs) compared with lev-onorgestrel (LNG)-contai...

Platelet aggregation was examined in a group of 35 nonsmokers and 15 smokers who were receiving oral contraceptives (OC; 30 mcg ethinyl estradiol and norgestrel or norethisterone). Platelet aggregation induced by ATP was greater after 4-6 months' use of OCs in both groups, and there was no difference between the 2 groups. The increased risk of thromboembolic in smokers on OCs would appear to ...

The scientific debate on oral contraceptives (OCs) therapy and thrombotic diseases continues unabated. This retrospective casecontrol study was intended to evaluate the age specific effects of oral contraceptives and smoking on the risk of deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary thromboembolism and arterial thombosis in women under 50 years. The study included evaluation of registry records of Bulgar...

Combined oral contraceptives (Ocs) are the most commonly used androgen suppressors and the treatment of choice for menstrual dysfunction in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOs). Although OCs have remained popular due to their convenience and effectiveness, there have been continuing concerns about adverse effects. The OCs have long been known to incur and increased risk of venous throm...

BACKGROUND There is increasing awareness of the opportunity that many contraceptive interventions may provide for additional health benefits. However, treatment of medical problems with oral contraceptives (OCs) is often an 'off-label' practice. OBJECTIVE The aim of this review is to summarize available data on non-contraceptive benefits of OCs. METHODS Review of the literature. RESULTS O...

Japan approved the use of low-dose oral contraceptives (OCs) in June 1999, after more than 35 years of debate. The debate leaves a legacy of misinformation about and various sources of resistance to OCs. Benefits are expected to include greater control for women over their fertility and a reduction in the high rates of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. Successful implementation of the new po...

introduction: oral contraceptives (ocs) are considered as one of the most common risk factor of venous thromboembolism (vte) in child bearing age. some of the recent researches indicate that the odds of vte may be even higher with newer generations of ocs. the present meta-analysis was designed to evaluate the effect of different generation of ocs on the occurrence of vte. methods: two research...

OBJECTIVE To determine positive and negative attitudes of married Turkish women and men regarding the use of oral contraceptives (OCs). METHODS Twenty focus group discussions were conducted during the period October 1998-March 1999 in Umraniye, which is one of the densely populated districts of Istanbul. RESULTS Most of the negative attitudes relating to OCs stemmed from concerns over side ...

In a recently published paper in Blood,1 Kemmeren et al elegantly studied the effect of secondand third-generation oral contraceptives (OCs) on hemostatic variables that probe the activity of the protein C system. The authors showed that, because the progestagen poorly counteracted the effect of the estrogen component, desogestrel-containing OCs significantly increased activated protein C (APC)...

Through modification of an in vitro test for thrombosis formation, a Dutch research group has made three significant findings: 1) third-generation oral contraceptives (OCs) induce a resistance to the blood's natural anticoagulation system of a magnitude close to that induced by a mutation in coagulation factor V Leiden; 2) second-generation OCs show only part of the effect; and 3) in OC users h...