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Venous thromboembolism risk twofold higher for contraceptive use in PCOS
New data published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggest that patients with polycystic ovary syndrome who also took oral contraceptives had a twofold increased risk for developing venous thromboembolism.
“We found a 2-fold increased risk of venous thromboembolism among women with PCOS taking combined oral contraceptives compared with matched controls. We found a similar increased risk when we expanded the definition of [PCOS] by including its symptoms and treatment,” the researchers wrote.
Further analyses demonstrated a 1.5-fold increased relative risk for venous thromboembolism in women who were not taking contraceptives with PCOS, they added.
The researchers utilized the IMS LifeLink Health Plan Claims Database to develop a population-based cohort for the study, which took place from May 2001 to December 2009. They included women aged 18 to 46 years taking combined oral contraceptives (i.e. ≤0.035 mg ethinyl estradiol: desogestrel, drospirenone, levonorgestrel, norethindrone, norethindrone acetate, norgestimate or norgestrel) and were diagnosed with PCOS (n=46,867). The matched control group included an additional 43,506 patients.
According to data, the incidence of venous thromboembolism in women with PCOS (HR=2.14; 95% CI, 1.41-3.24) was 23.7 per 10,000 person-years vs.10.9 per 10,000 person-years for matched controls.
Conversely, incidence of venous thromboembolism in women with PCOS who were not taking oral contraceptives (RR=1.55; 95% CI, 1.10-2.19) was 6.3 per 10,000 person-years compared with 4.1 per 10,000 person-years for those in the matched control group.
The researchers suggest that physicians consider these findings when assessing the risk for venous thromboembolism before prescribing oral contraceptives to this patient population.
Disclosure: Hartzema has served as consultant for Pfizer and the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership. All other researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.