These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: The truth about oral contraceptives, heart attack, stroke and blood clots.
    Journal: Contracept Rep; 1995 May; 6(2 Suppl):1-2. PubMed ID: 12346301.
    Abstract:
    Smoking is dangerous for all women, regardless of the method of contraception used. Women who smoke and take the oral contraceptive pill should stop smoking, since the combined effect of smoking and oral contraception may increase a woman's risk of heart attack compared to smoking only. Since women under age 35 who smoke and use the pill are at greater risk of death from pregnancy and childbirth than from using the pill, smoking and not oral pill use should be eliminated from their lives in the interest of practicing a safe and highly effective mode of birth control. Pill use is definitely not recommended for women aged 35 and older who smoke. Many programs exist to help one stop smoking. Stopping smoking is very important to reduce one's risk of stroke whether or not the pill is being used. Exactly how much the pill may or may not increase a woman's risk of getting a blood clot is controversial, although blood clots among otherwise healthy pill users who do not smoke are rare. In addition to being a very safe method of birth control which is highly effective when taken correctly and consistently, birth control pill use protects women against ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, painful or irregular periods, breast cysts, iron deficiency anemia, ectopic or tubal pregnancy, and infections of the fallopian tube requiring hospitalization. Healthy, nonsmoking women can safely take the pill right up until menopause.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]