Editorials

Third generation oral contraception and venous thromboembolism

Eighteen weeks ago, Britain's Committee on Safety of Medicines raised concerns about the newest brands of oral contraceptive pill,¹ responding to new evidence that pills containing desogestral and gestodene conferred a two times greater risk of venous thromboembolism than pills containing other progestagens. At the time, none of the data on which the committee's announcement was based had been published. Dissatisfied doctors, anxious patients, and hundreds of column inches in the press were the natural consequence of this imposed uncertainty.² Data from three case control studies, one of them nested in a cohort study, have since been published,^{3 4 5 6} and this week's BMJ carries two papers reporting data from a third case control study (pp 83, 88).^{7 8}

The studies published in December were a subanalysis of data from the large WHO study of women in 10 countries exposed to third . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

12% Of women stopped taking their pill immediately they heard CSM's warning

Sally Hope
BMJ 1996 312: 576. [Extract] [Full Text]

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• Cosmi, B., Legnani, C., Bernardi, F., Coccheri, S., Palareti, G. (2003). Role of Family History in Identifying Women With Thrombophilia and Higher Risk of Venous Thromboembolism During Oral Contraception. Arch Intern Med 163: 1105-1109 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Vandenbroucke, J. P., Rosing, J., Bloemenkamp, K. W.M., Middeldorp, S., Helmerhorst, F. M., Bouma, B. N., Rosendaal, F. R. (2001). Oral Contraceptives and the Risk of Venous Thrombosis. NEJM 344: 1527-1535 [Full text]  
• McPherson, K. (1999). The Risk Is Real. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 84: 1828-1829 [Full text]  
• Lilford, R J, Braunholtz, D (1996). For Debate: The statistical basis of public policy: a paradigm shift is overdue. BMJ 313: 603-607 [Full text]  
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• Hope, S. (1996). 12% Of women stopped taking their pill immediately they heard CSM's warning. BMJ 312: 576b-576 [Full text]