The New York Times reported September 25 on the controversy surrounding Yaz and Yasmin, two popular birth control pills (BCPs).
The controversy is a result of the marketing and manufacturing processes identified by the Food and Drug Administration. The major concern is whether these medications increase the risk of blood clots.
Yaz and Yasmin use both estrogens and progestins to prevent ovulation. Estimates are that at baseline about 1 women in 10,000 will have a blood clot this year; that number increases to about 3 women in 10,000 if they are taking BCPs.
Also the fact is that more than 50 women in 10,000 will get a blood clot due to pregnancy.
Unlike other BCPs, Yaz and Yasmin use a new progestin called drospirenone. The research on drospirenone is contradictory: one study sponsored by the manufacturer found no increased risk in blood clots, while two studies by independent researchers found an increase in blood clots from drospirenone.
A Danish study by Lidegaard, published in the British Medical Journal, examined women taking different types of oral contraceptives. As expected, they found that the pill increases the risk of blood clots, from an annual rate of 3 per 10,000 women to 6 per 10,000 women.
Comparing drospirenone to levonorgestrel, a progestin found in other BCPs , they found that annually, 5.5 women out of 10,000 on levonorgestrel BCPs had blood clots, while about 8 women out of 10,000 on drospirenone had blood clots.
A similar increase was also found when other progestins (desogestrel and gestodene) were compared to levonorgestrel.
The second study, done in the Netherlands by van Hylckama Vlieg, found similar results. Patients taking BCPs had higher rates of blood clots: in patients aged 30-40 years old, the annual rate of blood clots was 2 per 10,000 women in patients who didn’t use BCPs, and 10 per 10,000 women who did use BCPs.
It was lower in women younger than 30 and slightly higher in women older than 40. While the authors don’t report their results in the same manner as the previous study, extrapolation from their data shows that drospirenone has an annual rate of 12 blood clots per 10,000 women aged 30-40. Desogestrel BCPs also had similar increased rates compared to baseline.
The bottom line from these studies: Yaz and Yasmin, which use drospirenone, have a higher risk of blood clots than BCPs using levonorgestrel. This risk is not dramatically higher, and is similar to the slightly elevated risk from other BCPs containing desogestrel and gestodene.
If you or a family member has been personally injured because of the fault of someone else: by the use of dangerous and defective drugs, bad products, or toxic injury etc then please contact the Fort Worth Texas Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella Product Liability Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.
The Dr. Shezad Malik Law is currently evaluating and accepting Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella Side Effect cases.
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