• 16
  • November
    2011

A study which came out last week turned up further evidence that birth control pills containing the hormone drospirenone increase risk of blood clotting in those who use them.

Users of the drug are already at an increased chance of blood clotting, though studies have shown that the risk is elevated with pills containing drospirenone.

The study found that those who used birth control pills containing the hormone-such as Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz and Safyral-had a greater likelihood of developing blood clots than those who used other types of birth control pills. In the study, the increased risk of blood clotting was as much as 65 percent.

Drospirenone-containing pills were between 43 percent and 65 percent more likely to give rise to blood clotting problems than older forms of birth control pills. Blood clotting was found to occur mostly in the leg veins, though it can travel to the lungs and cause pulmonary embolism.

The findings of the study are at odds with older industry-funded studies, which suggested that Yaz and Yasmin did not elevate the risk of blood-clotting any more than other birth control formulations. Studies conducted since 2009, however, have moved in the direction of pointing to a higher risk.

Experts say that patients who are obese, over 25, smoke, or who have high blood pressure may be particularly at risk for blood clotting when taking drospirenone-containing pills.

The Food and Drug Administration recently issued its own findings on drospirenone-containing pills, saying that they increase the risk of blood clotting. According to its findings, about 10 in 10,000 women taking the new pills over a year's time, versus six in 10,000 with the older formulations.

Source: Fox News, "Newer Birth Control Pills Again Tied to Blood Clots," November 8, 2011.