Review of adverse effects of oral contraceptives

Scientific data describing benefits and unprofitablenesses of oral contraception (OC), may diverse in many cases or could be also controversial. Therefore we have decided to draw up a background research diplomathesis, whose main objective was to summarize the currently available knowledge of the adverse effect in connection with the use of OC. To assess the relative benefits and risks of OC, we also examined the potential positive effects of OC use. More than half of the women terminate the use of OC because of the side effects. Irregular bleeding, nausea, weight gain, mood changes, feeling the tension in the chest and headache were reported as the most common side effects. Most of them disappear with the length of use. The clearly demonstrated serious risks of OC use include cardiovascular complications - stroke, thrombembolic disease, myocardial infarction and hypertension. The risk of this problem increases with higher content of estrogen, e.g. ethinylestradiol (EE). So far, however, there hasn't been proved that a reduction of EE below 50 g results in a further significant reduction of thrombembolic events. The risk of cardiovascular problems is not dependent only on the estrogen content in OC. Contraceptives containing desogestrel or gestodene have been shown to have a higher risk of..