OBJECTIVES to identify the knowledge of users of combined oral contraceptive about correct use, side effects and complications; to verify the correlation between knowledge about the method with age, education, family income and time of use. METHOD cross-sectional study performed in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, from March to July 2010, with 294 women. Data were collected through interviews. RES...

During the past 40 years, combined oral contraceptives (COCs) have become a key component of modern fertility regulation programmes. Today, an estimated 100 million women throughout the world use this method of contraception. With such wide-spread usage, it is perhaps not surprising that COCs have been the subject of extensive medical research.

This report looks at data from 17 032 women who took part in the Oxford Family Planning Association contraceptive study. Thirty-eight first accidental pregnancies occurred during 6779 woman-years of use of progestogen-only oral contraceptives (0.56 per 100) and 95 first accidental pregnancies occurred during 48 692 woman-years of combined oral contraceptive use (0.20 per 100). Although associat...

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether age of onset of multiple sclerosis is related to use of combined oral contraceptives and/or timing of childbirth. The results showed that use of combined oral contraceptives and childbirth before the first multiple sclerosis symptom was correlated to a higher mean age at the onset of the disease.