BACKGROUND Adequate counselling on contraceptive methods can help users choose the most appropriate method. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of structured counselling provided by gynaecologists on selection of a combined hormonal contraception method. METHODS Women aged 18-40 years (n = 1871) who were considering the use of a combined hormonal contraception method (pill, transd...

OBJECTIVES A new method for the quantitative determination of 17alpha-ethinylestradiol-17beta (EE2) in serum is presented here based on the principle of isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) with [13C]EE2 as internal standard. The technique was used to determine the concentration profiles of EE2 in the serum of female subjects who had taken oral contraceptives with different progestin compo...

INTRODUCTION Oral contraceptives, mainly combined monophasic pills, are widely used by young women who expect their physicians to prescribe them safe drugs which will not harm their health and which will simplify their life. Numerous epidemiologic studies have been performed to determine the relation between oral contraceptive use and the development of neoplasms. BREAST CANCER An increased i...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes in haemostasis in the three months immediately after stopping the combined contraceptive pill. DESIGN Prospective randomised study. SETTING Family planning centre in London. SUBJECTS 24 women aged 35-45 investigated before, during, and after six months' use of combined oral contraceptives containing 30 micrograms ethinyl oestradiol together with the pr...

CONTEXT The association between combined oral contraceptives (OC) and the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) has been intensively studied, and conclusions are controversial. While progestogen-only contraceptives (POC) are commonly used worldwide, their impact on cardiovascular diseases is poorly investigated and remains unclear. OBJECTIVE We carried out a meta-analysis based on EMBASE- and ME...

BACKGROUND Ethinyl estradiol (EE) increases endothelium-dependent vasodilation in young women, but certain progestins paired with EE in combination oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) have been shown to antagonize the vasodilatory effects of EE. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how endothelial function, serum biomarkers and resting blood pressures change across an OCP cycle i...

On 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space. His 2-hour voyage aboard the Vostok 3KA-2 definitively demonstrated that humans could survive in space. In the 55 years since Gagarin’s historic flight, hundreds of astronauts and cosmonauts have travelled into space, mankind has visited the moon and it is now realistic to believe that a manned mission to Mars will comm...

Community-based services (CBS) have long used checklists to determine eligibility for contraceptive method use, in particular for combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and the 3-month injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA). As safety information changes, however, checklists can quickly become outdated. Inconsistent checklists and eligibility criteria often cause uneven ...

BACKGROUND The incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) is rising in women. OBJECTIVE To determine whether the use of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) are associated with MS risk and whether this varies by progestin content. METHODS We conducted a nested case-control study of females ages 14-48 years with incident MS or clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) 2008-2011 from the membership of Kais...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate whether the day of ovulation and the duration of a pretreatment cycle were related to the degree of follicular growth during subsequent contraceptive treatment. METHODS This randomized, open-label study was performed in 40 healthy female volunteers, who were randomized by a computer-generated list after stratification for the ovulation day i...