The pill's blood clot risks disputed
Pearre, J.
Chicago Today 3: 4
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0577-7321 PMID: 12229368 Document Number: 313990
This is a newspaper report of the review of 68 studies in the literature on thromboembolism in 80,000 users of oral contraception since 1963 by V.A. DRILL and D.W. CALHOUN of Searle and Company. These reviewers found that the incidence of thromboembolism was 1/1000 women/year in pill users, and 2.2/1000 women/year in normal women. Furthermore, the incidence is not affected by dose, type or potency of estrogen in the combined pills. According to this news article, the DRILL-CALHOUN survey is a prospective study, more reliable than previous retrospective statistical studies that found up to 7-fold increased risk, because this prospective study measures actual disease frequency. Further proofs of pill safety cited were the facts that pregnant women have fewer thromboembolism disorders, and that women who develop the disorder while continuing pills improve just as rapidly as women not taking pills.