Oral Contraceptives and Thromboembolic Disease

Abstract

Studies in more than 70,000 women show no relation of the different doses of mestranol or ethinyl estradiol in oral contraceptives to the occurrence of superficial and deep-vein thromboembolic disease involving the lower extremities. The disease incidence did not differ significantly between the two estrogens or the different doses of the two estrogens employed in oral contraceptives, and no correspondence was seen between the dosage of estrogen and the incidence of disease. At all dosages of the estrogens, the incidence of thromboembolic disease was not greater than the average normal rate of 2.2 cases per 1,000 women of childbearing age per year.