In this paper, it is argued that oral contraceptives should be available without prescription. Prescription status entails heavy costs, including the dollar, time, and psychological costs of visiting a physician to obtain a prescription, the financial and human costs of unintended pregnancies that result from the obstacle to access caused by medicalization of oral contraceptives, and administra...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to identify variations in nervous thresholds in different phases of the menstrual cycle in eumenorrheic women and users of oral contraceptives. METHOD An observational study was performed including 56 volunteers, consisting of 30 eumenorrheic women who were non-users of oral contraceptives and 26 users of oral contraceptives. An electrical stimulator was e...

OBJECTIVE To assess the risk of venous thromboembolism from use of combined oral contraceptives according to progestogen type and oestrogen dose. DESIGN National historical registry based cohort study. SETTING Four registries in Denmark. PARTICIPANTS Non-pregnant Danish women aged 15-49 with no history of thrombotic disease and followed from January 2001 to December 2009. MAIN OUTCOME M...

The factor VIII clotting activity (VIIIc1 and factor VIII related antigen (VIIIRAg) were determined repeatedly in 24 pairs of age-matched normal women, one of each pair being on oral contraceptives. No significant differences in either parameter or in the VIIIc/VIIIRAg ration were found between the two groups ,although the mean factor VIII clotting activity and VIIIc/VIIIRAg ratios for women on...

A study was performed to find out whether the overall rate of metabolism of oral contraceptives is affected by smoking and whether this explains the increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in users of oral contraceptives who smoke. Plasma ethinyloestradiol and norgestrel concentrations in 311 women using oral contraceptives were similar in smokers and non-smokers. The overall rate of meta...