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  • Title: MI risk extends to past use of pill, study suggests.
    Journal: Contracept Technol Update; 1981 Oct; 2(10):129-32. PubMed ID: 12263463.
    Abstract:
    The results of a recent article appearing in the "New England Journal of Medicine" regarding the risk of myocardial infarction to oral contraceptive (OC) users suggested to several experts that the findings were not necessarily alarming. The reasons for this estimation were the following: 1) in terms of absolute numbers, the risk of myocardial infarction in past users of the OC was very small; 2) in terms of current prescribing practices, the results are, to a degreee, historical, measuring the effects in women who took the OC as long as 10 or 20 years ago (when dosages may have been higher) and who may have taken the OC at an age somewhat older than women who are currently users; and the study needs to be carried further and to be confirmed or refuted by other studies. Dennis Slone, M.D., an epidemiologist at Boston University School of Medicine, found that women aged 40-49 years who had used the pill for 10 or more years appeared to have between a 2- and 3-fold increased risk of myocardial infarction when compared to women who had not used the pill. Women who had used the pill for shorter periods of time or who were younger did not appear to have an increased risk of myocardial infarction. Slone and colleagues were surprised to find an effect which persisted. Clinicians dealing with this information must remember that 1 study does not "prove" a point and cannot be the basis for huge judgment decisions. These preliminary findings should be interpreted with caution in actual practice. No other published study has shown an increased risk of myocardial infarction in past OC users. A cautious practice may be to discontinue OC use after 10 years of continuous or intermittent use.
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