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Study offers potential explanation of complications from birth control pills.
2003 MAY 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- When women think about birth control, estrogen, and cardiovascular risk, they often assume that there are no answers. They would appear to be correct.
On the one hand, new pharmacological advancements have provided combination oral contraceptive (OC) formulations with lower-dose estrogen. These formulations have significantly less risk of cardiovascular adverse events compared to the older combined formulations with higher doses. They also provide excellent cycle control, a low incidence of breakthrough bleeding and spotting, and increased patient satisfaction.
On the other hand, the current-generation progestins appear less safe than earlier formulations with respect to the risk of blood clotting. Moreover, recent studies have associated current oral contraceptive use with risks for ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction, impaired blood anticoagulant pathways, and increased cardiovascular reactivity. Thus, cardiovascular risk relating to consumption of oral contraceptives still remains.
C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein in the body whose level increases when blood vessels become inflamed. Measuring cardiovascular risk is thought to be possible by assessing CRP levels. Previously published data have shown that blood levels of CRP are elevated many years before a first heart attack or stroke occurs. Accordingly, a team of researchers set out to investigate the association between current low-dose oral contraceptives and levels of plasma CRP.
The authors of "Oral contraceptive use and increased plasma concentration of c-reactive protein" are Darlene M. Dreon, DrPH; Joanne L. Slavin, PhD; and Stephen D. Phinney, MD, PhD, from Galileo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Santa Clara, California and the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. They presented their findings at the American Physiological Society's conference, Experimental Biology 2003, San Diego.
In a previously published study, investigators used an insensitive, nonquantitative immunoprecipitation technique capable of identifying CRP levels above the current normal range. That study reported the presence of CRP in more than half of women using first-generation combined or sequential oral contraceptives of the 1960s. Among women using the then "low dosage" progestin oral contraceptives, the study found no difference in the prevalence of positive serum CRP between this class of OC users vs. nonusers.
Given the current availability of the high-sensitivity CRP test, it is possible to assess the effects of current low-dose oral contraceptives on this biomarker for cardiovascular disease risk. The research team involved in the current ...
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Source: HighBeam Research, Study offers potential explanation of complications from birth...