UC San Diego Health Sciences News

Birth Control Pills: Blood Clots and Benefits

The FDA recently reconsidered the safety of a popular birth control pill due to the high instance of blood clots among users. While the FDA decided that the benefits of these types of oral contraceptives that contain the hormone drospirenone outweigh the risk, concerns about safety haven’t been assuaged as even panel members who voted for the drug’s continued use still felt that “the drug probably ought to be rarely used.”

On the opposite end of the birth control spectrum, a recent article in The Guardian reported on a study in The Lancet that advises young nuns to take oral contraceptives to better protect them from certain ovarian and uterine cancers. Rates of these types of cancers are higher amongst nuns versus the regular population as nuns do not have children and therefore have more menstrual cycles, which can increase the risk for uterine and ovarian cancers, and they do not breastfeed, which can increase their risks for breast cancer. The Lancet study showed women who take oral contraceptives having a rate of ovarian cancers that was 60 percent less than nuns.

So should women take oral contraceptives or shouldn’t they? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Sheila Mody, assistant adjunct professor in our Department of Reproductive Medicine, sheds some light on the benefits vs. risks of oral contraceptives.

Question: For women who are currently taking oral contraceptives, what should they be doing (or not doing) to decrease their risk of getting a blood clot?

Answer: The risk of blood clots while on oral contraceptives is very small. In fact, the risk of blood clots if you became pregnant is much higher. So by continuing your oral contraceptives and not becoming pregnant you are actually lowering your risk of developing a blood clot.

Q: Are some oral contraceptives more problematic than others?

A: The risk of blood clots is about the same between oral contraceptives. The risk of developing a blood clot on Yasmin is slightly increased but still rare. According to one study the incidence of blood clots with Yasmin is 10/10,000 women compared to other birth control pills which is about 5-7/10,000 women.

Q: What advice can you give to women who are worried about whether they should continue to take oral contraceptives?

A: If you have been taking oral contraceptives, you can continue to take them as the risk of blood clots is low. The highest risk is within the first year of oral contraceptive use.