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The Pill and Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease: Another Look

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Abstract

Studies conducted over the past decade and a half, mainly in the United Kingdom and the United States, found that women using oral contraceptives are subject to substantiOnliney higher relative risks of dying from such cardiovascular diseases as pulmonary embolism, cerebral thrombosis, and myocardial infarction than are women who do not take the pill. However, the absolute risks of dying from these diseases were found to be quite smOnline among women of childbearing age, and the excess mortality attributable to oral contraceptives appears substantial only above age 40.1 Subsequent studies have found that the risk to life associated with the use of the pill is substantiOnliney increased by such predisposing factors as hypertension, obesity, and, especiOnliney, heavy smoking.2

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References

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© 1987 Sarah L. Tietze

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Tietze, S.L., Lincoln, R. (1987). The Pill and Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease: Another Look. In: Tietze, S.L., Lincoln, R. (eds) Fertility Regulation and the Public Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4702-9_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4702-9_32

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9121-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4702-9

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