“The future is not likely to be dull”. This statement, made by the Family Planning Association (now known as fpa) in 19601 when it launched the first UK trial of the oral contraceptive pill, proved to be more than accurate! Four decades on from the introduction of ‘the Pill’ in 1961 (1960 in the US), history graphically illustrates how oral contraception not only revolutionised the field of bir...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis is a rare progressive disease of unknown aetiology affecting premenopausal women. Since the oral contraceptive pill has been implicated in its pathogenesis, a case control study was carried out to determine whether women with the disease were more likely to have taken the oral contraceptive pill, and whether the disease was associated with other con...

The oral contraceptive chlormadinone acetate has been given for eight months to a woman who had developed jaundice during four pregnancies, and twice while taking a combined contraceptive pill. No side-effects or changes in liver function were observed. This is further evidence that progestogens used for contraception, and in particular those derived from hydroxyprogesterone, are less hepatotox...

Oral contraceptive pills (OCP) represent the most common contraceptive method among teenagers and young adults. Because many women with cystic fibrosis (CF) are now surviving into childbearing age and are at risk for the complications of pregnancy in CF, oral contraceptive use may be indicated. However, it has been suggested that OCP use by CF patients may be associated with deterioration in pu...

Venous thromboembolic events (VTEs) represent a serious complication related to hormonal contraception and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Evidence on hormonal contraceptive- and HRT-related VTEs is derived almost exclusively from observational studies and points to a 2- to 6-fold increased relative risk of VTEs with either therapy. Oral contraceptive pills that contain third-generation prog...

CONTEXT Oral contraceptive users' risk of accidental pregnancy may be higher than it should be, because of inconsistent pill-taking. However, few reliable data are available on pill users' everyday experiences with their method, especially characteristics that may affect consistency of use. METHODS Two months after initiating or resuming oral contraceptive use, a nationwide sample of 943 wome...

BACKGROUND About one third of all pregnancies are unplanned and 20% of all pregnancies end in abortion. More than 170,000 legal abortions are performed in the United Kingdom annually. Nearly all general practitioners provide contraceptive advice; the most commonly used form of reversible contraception is the oral contraceptive pill. AIM The aim of this study was to determine factors associate...