The risk of arterial thrombosis increases with the use of combined oral contraceptives

Commentary on: Roach RE, Helmerhorst FM, Lijfering WM, et al.. Combined oral contraceptives: the risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2015;8:CD011054. Context While the risk of venous thrombosis with use of combined oral contraceptives (COC) is now convincingly quantified to be threefold to sixfold increased, depending mainly on the type of progestogen, there are few and less consistent studies on the risk of arterial endpoints. Therefore, a meta-analysis on available evidence might be relevant. Method This Cochrane review includes data from 24 studies assessing the risk of thrombotic stroke and/or myocardial infarction in women of reproductive age using COC as compared with non-users. Criteria for including and excluding studies were specified, as was information on categorising the studies’ risk of bias in ascertainment of exposure and assessment of end points. Findings The analysis included 23 case–control studies together...
Source: Evidence-Based Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Epidemiologic studies, Drugs: cardiovascular system, Stroke, Contraception, Drugs: obstetrics and gynaecology, Ischaemic heart disease, Venous thromboembolism Aetiology/Harm Source Type: research