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The main issue with assessing the impact of contraceptive pills on women’s health is that lifespans are longer.
The “Pill” is a product of the 1960s.
The first generation of 20-something users now are only in their 60s. Of course, women in their 30s and 40s used the Pill and would now be in their 70s and 80s. Due to a longer lifespan, a great many of them still are alive, too.
When examining whether or not a medication contributes to risk for an earlier death, it takes a long time to find the answer.
This is progress. It also is positive news for women who did, or want to, use oral contraceptives.
“Oral contraceptives won’t increase a woman’s risk of death — in fact, birth control pill users may live longer, researchers said.
“In a population-based study of women in the U.K., death from any cause was 12% lower among oral contraceptive users than among those who never took birth control pills, Philip C. Hannaford, MD, of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and colleagues reported online in BMJ.
“This is very reassuring and enables us to say with confidence to women that if they chose to use the pill as their contraceptive, they are highly unlikely to do long-term damage to themselves,” Hannaford said in an e-mail to MedPage Today.
“Previous studies have shown no increased risk of mortality with oral contraceptive use, but the researchers said they didn’t have a long enough follow-up.”
Source: Medpage Today, March 11, 2010
Citation: BMJ 2010;340:c927
