Oral Contraceptive Use Not associated with Increased CV Risk, mortality

In a recent study involving 161,017 women without cardiovascular disease (CVD) at the outset, the associations between oral contraceptive (OC) use and the risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause death have been examined. The findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association indicate that OC use is not linked to an increased risk of CVD events or all-cause death, and in fact, might even confer a potential net benefit.

The study utilized comprehensive data from a large pool of participants, with 81.4% (131,131) reporting OC use at the study's commencement. The participants were divided into two categories: those who had ever used OCs and those who had never used them. Using Cox proportional hazard models, the researchers calculated hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for various cardiovascular outcomes and death.

The results revealed that women who had used OCs demonstrated favorable statistics. Specifically, when compared to those who had never used OCs, OC users had a hazard ratio of 0.91 (with a 95% confidence interval of 0.87–0.96) for incident CVD events and a hazard ratio of 0.92 (with a 95% confidence interval of 0.86–0.99) for all-cause death.

Moreover, OC use was associated with a decreased risk of coronary heart disease (hazard ratio of 0.88), heart failure (hazard ratio of 0.87), and atrial fibrillation (hazard ratio of 0.92).

However, it's important to note that the study did not identify significant associations between OC use and CVD-related death, myocardial infarction, or stroke.

Nevertheless, the researchers did observe that the positive impacts of OC use on CVD events appeared more pronounced among participants who had used OCs for longer durations, indicating a potential trend. Additionally, the suggestion that benefits are more pronounced with longer OC use warrants further investigation, potentially providing insights into better strategies for OC administration.

Reference:

Dou, W., Huang, Y., Liu, X., Huang, C., Huang, J., Xu, B., Yang, L., Liu, Y., Lei, X., Li, X., Huang, J., Lin, J., Liu, D., Zhang, P., Shao, J., Liu, C., & Zhang, H. (2023). Associations of Oral Contraceptive Use With Cardiovascular Disease and All‐Cause Death: Evidence From the UK Biobank Cohort Study. In Journal of the American Heart Association. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). https://doi.org/10.1161/jaha.123.030105