Association between oral contraceptives and myocardial infarction. A review
H. W. Ory
Analysis of the association between oral contraceptive use and the
development of myocardial infarction in women less than 50 years of age
shows that cigarette smoking is the most important factor in increasing the
likelihood of myocardial infarction. This effect is independent of oral
contraceptive use but oral contraceptive use also appears to be a risk
factor; however, their use in the absence of other predisposing factors
appears to have only a small effect on increasing the risk of dying from
myocardial infarction. This small increase is of the same order of
magnitude as the increased risk of death from thromboembolic disease. Oral
contraceptive users more than 30 years of age who have other factors that
increase the likelihood of myocardial infarction appear to have a
substantially higher death rate.
