Nov 11, 2005 10:54 pm US/Eastern
Birth Control Patch Has Risky Side Effect
by Dr. Maria Simbra
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
The Ortho-Evra birth control patch might prevent pregnancy, but it also has some potentially risky side effects.
Ortho McNeil warns that users may be at risk for blood clots.
The patch is used by more than four million women.
Sticking the patch on once a week is easier to remember for some women than a daily pill.
The patch went on sale in 2002 with a high profile ad campaign featuring models.
The manufacturer maintained that using the patch posed no greater risk to women than using birth control pills.
Ortho McNeil says that women using the patch are exposed to 60 percent more estrogen than women using typical birth control pills. The company is concerned that the exposure may increase the risks that come with hormonal birth control.
The warning comes four months after the Associated Press reported that patch users have three times the risk of developing blood clots or dying than women using the pill.
About a dozen women out of more than four million users have had lawsuits filed on their behalf by their families because of these problems.
Studies across the population have not been done to see if there is an increased risk or not.
Obstetician gynecologist James Garver says that all women taking hormones need to be informed of the known risks and should keep the patch warning in perspective.
"A blood clotting risk is there and it's known, said Dr. James Garver, of Allegheny General Hospital. "Now these are small numbers and I think this needs to be confirmed in large epidemiologic study."
Garver adds the risk of blood clots and dying from pregnancy is far greater than that from all hormonal birth control.
The vast majority of women on this kind of birth control do not get blood clots.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Stumble It!
