Oral Contraceptives

Patient Screening and Counseling, Pill Selection, and Managing Side Effects
  • Donna Shoupe
Chapter
Part of the Current Clinical Practice book series (CCP)

Abstract

Concerns regarding the estrogen-related adverse effects with use of combination oral contraceptives (OCs) have led to a progressive reduction in the estrogen dose since their introduction in the 1960s. Prompting these concerns were the numerous epidemiological studies linking estrogen in OCs to breast cancer (1) and cardiovascular complications, including an increase in thromboembolic events and myocardial infarction (2). By the early 1990s, low-dose OCs containing 20–35 μg of ethinyl estradiol (EE) were the most commonly used formulations, and products with more than 50 μg of EE were no longer being marketed. Epidemiological studies reported improved safety profiles of these lower dose formulations (3, 4, 5, 6, 7) (Fig. 1).

Keywords

Oral Contraceptive Ethinyl Estradiol Emergency Contraception Ethinyl Estradiol Withdrawal Bleeding 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Donna Shoupe
    • 1
  1. 1.Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Family MedicineKeck School of Medicine at the University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles

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