Results of a recent birth control pill study confirm previous findings that newer generation pills may cause more blood clots than previous versions of the pills.
The study of 330,000 Israeli women was published Nov. 7 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The new pills contain drospirenone, which is a synthetic progestin hormone. The substance is contained in Yaz®, Yasmin®, Beyaz® and Safyral® and their generic counterparts.
The study showed that pills with drospirenone had between a 43 and 65 percent higher risk of causing blood clots than previous pills, called second and third generation pills. That equaled slightly more than between eight and 10 clots in 10,000 women a year.
A study sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published results of another study the previous week, also showing that the risk of blood clots was greater in women who took birth control pills containing drospirenone. That study involved over 800,000 women in the U.S. between 2001 and 2007.
The clots they may cause are called venous embolisms, blood clots that often form in the veins of the legs. Venous thromboembolisms are clots that break away from their source in the vein and are carried through the blood stream to another part of the body, where they get stuck in a blood vessel and block the flow of blood. When stuck in the lungs they are called pulmonary embolisms. If they get stuck in the brain, they cause a stroke.
Something to think about, according to Dr. Susan Solymoss, is if you have other risk factors for blood clots. Such risk factors include obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history, diabetes and smoking. Solymoss works at McGill University in Montreal and contributed an editorial on the subject in the medical journal.
The study was led by Dr. Naomi Gronich, of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. She added that age is another risk factor. If you are older than 35 and smoke you should not be using birth controls in most situations. The risk of blood clots increases gradually after you are 25, Dr. Gronich said.
(Source: Reuters)
If you’ve suffered because of a serious blood clot and have taken Yaz®, Yasmin®, or a similar birth control pill, you may be entitled to financial compensation. To learn more, contact us today.
