Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T19:48:47.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The use of oral contraceptives in women over age 35 years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Robert F Casper ,
Selim Senoz  and
Avraham Ben-Chetrit
Robert F Casper*
Affiliation:
Division of Reproductive Sciences, The Toronto Hospital Research Institute, Toronto, Canada
Selim Senoz
Affiliation:
Division of Reproductive Sciences, The Toronto Hospital Research Institute, Toronto, Canada
Avraham Ben-Chetrit
Affiliation:
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
*
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Toronto General Hospital, 200 Elizabeth St Eaton Wing, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaM5G 2C4.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Oral contraceptives remain the most widely used form of contraception in North America and Europe today. In spite of the concerns of many women relating to the potential risks of these preparations, recent data have demonstrated that currently available oral contraceptives are safe, with no increased risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer in nonsmoking women. The present review will focus on the impact of oral contraceptive use in the older woman, including a discussion of the noncontraceptive health benefits of oral contraceptives.

Type
Articles
Information
Reproductive Medicine Review , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , July 1995 , pp. 115 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1Fortney, JA. Menopause: evaluation, treatment and health concerns. New York: Alan R Liss, 1989: 41–52.Google Scholar
2Harlap, S, Kost, K, Forrest, JD. Preventing pregnancy, protecting heald: a new look at birth control choices in the United States. New York: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1991.Google Scholar
3Mann, JI, Inman, WH, Thorogood, M. Oral contraceptive use in older women and fatal myocardial infarction. Br Med J 1976; 2: 445–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Ramcharan, S, Pellegrin, FA, Ray, RM. The Walnut Creek contraceptive drug study: a prospective study of the side effects of oral contraceptives, Volume 3. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, 1981: 564.Google Scholar
5Royal College of General Practioners' Oral Contraceptive Study. Further analysis of mortality in oral contraceptive users. Lancet 1981; 1: 541–43.Google Scholar
6Thorneycroft, IH. Oral contraceptives and myocardial infarction. Am J Obstet Gynaecol 1990; 163: 1393–97.Google Scholar
7Rosenberg, L, Palmer, JR, Lesko, SM, Shapiro, S. Oral contraceptive use and the risk of myocardial infarction. Am J Epidemiol 1990; 131: 1009–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Thorogood, M, Mann, J, Murphy, M, Vessey, M. Is oral contraceptive use still associated with an increased risk of fatal myocardial infarction? Report of a case-control study. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1991; 98: 1245–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Colditz, GA and The Nurses Health Study Research Group. Oral contraceptive use and mortality during 12 years of follow-up: the Nurses' Health Study. Ann Intern Med 1994; 120: 821–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Bonnar, J. Coagulation effects of oral contraception. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1987; 157: 1042–48.Google Scholar
11Phillips, A, Demarest, K, Hahn, DW, Wong, F, McGuire, JL. Progestational and androgenic receptor binding affinities and in vivo activities of norgestimate and other progestins. Contraception 1990; 41: 399–410.Google Scholar
12Adams, MR, Clarkson, TB, Shively, CA, Parks, JS, Kaplan, JR. Oral contraceptives, lipoproteins, and atherosclerosis. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1990; 163: 1388–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13Clarkson, TB, Shively, CA, Morgan, TM, Koritnik, DR, Adams, MR, Kaplan, JR. Oral contraceptives and coronary artery atherosclerosis of cynomolgus monkeys. Obstet Gynecol 1990; 75: 217–22.Google ScholarPubMed
14Wagner, JD, Clarkson, TB, St Clair, RW, Schwenke, DC, Shively, CA, Adams, MR. Estrogen and progesterone replacement therapy reduces low density lipoprotein accumulation in the coronary arteries of surgically postmenopausal cynomolgus monkeys. J Clin Invest 1991; 88: 1995–2002.Google Scholar
15Rifici, VA, Khachadurian, AK. The inhibition of low-density lipoprotein oxidation by 17-β estradiol. Metabolism 1992; 41: 1110–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Sack, MN, Radar, DJ, Cannon, RO III. Oestrogen and inhibition of oxidation of low-density lipoproteins in postmenopausal women. Lancet 1994; 343: 269–70.Google Scholar
17Vessey, M, Metcalfe, A, Wells, C, McPherson, K, Westhoff, C, Yeates, D. Ovarian neoplasms, functional ovarian cysts and oral contraceptives. Br Med J 1987; 294: 1518–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18Ory, H. Functional ovarian cysts and oral contraceptives. Negative association confirmed surgically. JAMA 1974; 228: 68–72.Google Scholar
19The cancer and steroid hormone study of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Combination oral contraceptive use and the risk of endometrial cancer. JAMA 1987; 257: 796–800.Google Scholar
20Hankinson, SE, Colditz, GA, Hunter, DJ, Spencer, TL, Rosner, B, Stampfer, MJ. A quantitative assessment of oral contraceptive use and risk of ovarian cancer. Obstet Gynecol 1992; 80: 707–14.Google ScholarPubMed
21Whittemore, AS, Harris, R, Itnyre, J. Characteristics relating to ovarian cancer risk: collaborative analysis of 12 US case-control studies. II Invasive epithelial ovarian cancers in white women. Am J Epidemiol 1992; 136: 1184–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22Goldzeiher, JW. Are low-dose oral contraceptives safer and better? Am J Obstet Gynecol 1994; 171: 587–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23Whittemore, AS, Wu, ML, Paffenbarger, RS Jr et al. Epithelial ovarian cancer and the ability to conceive. Cancer Res 1989; 49: 4047–52.Google ScholarPubMed
24Whittemore, AS, Harris, Itnyre J and Collaborative Ovarian Cancer Group. Characteristics relating to ovarian cancer risk: collaborative analysis of 12 US case-control studies. II. Invasive epithelial ovarian cancers in white women. Am J Epidemiol 1992; 136: 1184–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25Rossing, MA, Daling, JR, Weiss, NS, Moore, DE, Self, SG. Ovarian tumors in a cohort of infertile women. N Engl J Med 1994; 331: 771–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26Bayard, F, Damilano, S, Robel, P, Baulieu, EE. Cytoplasmic and nuclear estradiol and progesterone receptors in human endometrium. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1978; 46: 635–48.Google Scholar
27Whitehead, MI, Townsen, PT, Pryce-Davies, J, Ryder, TA, King, RJ. Effects of estrogens and progestins on the biochemistry and morphology of the postmenopausal endometrium. N Engl J Med 1981; 305: 1599–605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28Herbst, AL, Berek, JS. Impact of contraception on gynecologic cancers. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1993; 168: 1980–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29Huggins, GR, Zucker, PK. Oral contraceptives and neoplasia: 1987 update. Fertil Steril 1987; 47: 733–61.Google ScholarPubMed
30Hislop, TG, Threfall, WJ. Oral contraceptives and benign breast disease. Am J Epidemiol 1984; 120: 273–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31Brinton, LA, Vessey, MP, Flavel, R, Yeates, D. Risk factors for benign breast disease. Am J Epidemiol 1981; 113: 203–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32Ory, H, Cole, P, MacMahon, B, Hoover, R. Oral contraceptives and reduced risk of benign breast diseases. N Eng J Med 1976; 294: 419–22.Google Scholar
33Charreau, I, Plu-Bureau, G, Bachelot, A, Contesso, G, Guinebretiere, JM, Le, MG. Oral contraceptive use and risk of benign breast disease in a French case-control study of young women. Eur J Cancer Prev 1993; 2: 147–54.Google Scholar
34Stadel, BV, Lai, S. Oral contraceptives and premenopausal breast cancer in nulliparous women. Contraception 1988; 38: 287–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35Collins, JA. Hormonal contraception and breast cancer: accounting for age at diagnosis. J Soc Obstet Gynecol Canada 1995; 17: 33–42.Google Scholar
36Meirik, O, Lund, E, Adami, H, Bergstroöm, R, Christoffersen, T, Bergsjo, P. Oral contraceptive use and breast cancer in young women: a joint national case-control study in Sweden and Norway. Lancet 1986; 2: 650–54.Google Scholar
37Romieu, I, Berlin, JA, Colditz, G. Oral contraceptives and breast cancer. Cancer. Cancer 1990; 66: 2253–63.Google Scholar
38Prior, JC, Vigna, YM, Schechter, MT, Burgess, AE. Spinal bone loss and ovulatory disturbances. N Engl J Med 1990; 323: 1221–27.Google Scholar
39Ross, RK, Pike, MC, Vessey, MP, Bull, D, Yeates, D, Casagrande, JT. Risk factors for uterine fibroids: reduced risk associated with oral contraceptives. Br Med J 1986; 293: 359–62.Google Scholar
40McLachlin, RI, Robertson, DM, Healy, DL, Burger, HG, de Kretser, DM. Inhibin – a non-steroidal regulator of pituitary follicle stimulating hormone. In: Burger, HG ed. Clinics in endocrinology and metabolism, reproductive endocrinology. London: Bailliere Tindall, 1993: 89–92.Google Scholar