Birth control pills may increase risk of blood clots

By Dr. Diana Sarmiento, The Blogging Doc

Women have been using oral contraceptive pills since the 1960's. The main ingredients to inhibit ovulation are the presence of the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Through the years, pharmaceutical companies have been developing newer generations of these hormones to lessen the unwanted side-effects and increase the non-contraceptive benefits.

Drosperinone is one such drug.

It is a fourth generation synthetic progesterone. Its action is mainly anti-mineralocorticoid meaning it inhibits water retention as is frequently observed in women taking oral contraceptives. Drosperinone is very similar in action to a diuretic. As a diuretic, there is less fluid retention, less bloating, less weight gain and less breast tenderness.

The three brands containing drosperinone are Yasmin, Yaz and Yasminelle which are all produced by the company, Bayer.

Maria Liu, a mother of three, who has been on Yasmin since 2003 has been very happy with the product. "I used to take Diane pills but I experiences severe headaches and weight gain. I was very happy when my doctor introduced me to Yasmin. I have not had any episode of headache since I started this brand. I even notice some weight loss when I shifted to Yasmin."

In September 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released their preliminary report stating that drosperinone-containing pills may increase the risk of blood clots.

This October 27, 2011, the final result of the FDA-funded study reveals that " there is increasing evidence linking drosperinone-containing tablets to increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) relative to standard low-dose combined hormonal oral contraceptives."

The study was a retrospective cohort study involving 835,826 women with 189,210 person-years exposure to drosperinone. In the final analysis, there was a 1.7 increased risk of VTE versus other low-estrogen pills.

Dr. Delfin Tan, an obstetrician-gynecologist has this to say regarding the controversy: "The risk of getting a blood clot in women taking the pill is 1 in 3000, while the risk of getting a clot while the woman is pregnant is even higher at 1 in 1000. "

The FDA will present the study at the joint meeting of Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee on December 8.

Till the final verdict is out, it would be safe to discontinue usage of these brands of pills containing drosperinone. Visit your doctor for an alternative drug.

source: yahoo.com