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Geza de Takats, MD
Chicago

JAMA. 1968;206(12):2742-2743.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor:—

Drill and Calhoun's article in THE JOURNAL (206:77, 1968) concludes that contraceptives do not increase the incidence or recurrence of thromboembolism in nonpregnant women of childbearing age.

The statistical approach of the authors is not in agreement with studies of a small but well-controlled number of patients whose clotting mechanism was studied before and after they were placed on the pill (Egeberg and Owren, Brit Med J 1:220, 1963). Coagulation factors V, VI, and VIII increase so as to produce a hypercoagulable state, as reported several times.

It can also be shown, just as in the last trimester of pregnancy (Nielsson, J.M., Acta Obstet Gynec Scand 46:286, 1967), that the fibrinolytic mechanism of the individual on contraceptives is impaired. These studies are far more in accord with clinical experience and with the two British studies which the authors discount.

Mass statistics of thromboembolic disease . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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