As With So-Called "Third Generation" Oral Contraceptives, For Drospirenone (DRSP) Containing Pills The Risk Is 50% To 80% Higher Than Levonorgestrel Pills

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

On September 12, 2013 the well-known BMJ medical journal published an article which was intended to  provide a comprehensive overview of the risk of venous thrombosis in women using different combined oral contraceptives.

From this article, "Different combined oral contraceptives and the risk of venous thrombosis: systematic review and network meta-analysis", we get this finding:

Use of combined oral contraceptives increased the risk of venous thrombosis compared with non-use (relative risk 3.5, 95% confidence interval 2.9 to 4.3). The relative risk of venous thrombosis for combined oral contraceptives with 30-35 µg ethinylestradiol and gestodene, desogestrel, cyproterone acetate, or drospirenone were similar and about 50-80% higher than for combined oral contraceptives with levonorgestrel.  [emphasis added]

Drospirenone (DRSP) — the progestin, or progestogen, which is found in the YAZ, Yasmin, Beyaz, Safyral, Ocella, and Gianvi birth control pills made by Bayer – was introduced in 2001.  It was developed after the introduction of the so-called "third generation" progestins, which this article termed gestodene, desogestrel, and norgestimate.  In comparison, levonorgesrel is regarded as a "second generation" progestin.

In this new September 2013 BMJ article, the authors also make this statement:

Women using second generation contraceptives are generally older than users of third generation contraceptives. If an analysis is not adjusted for age, the relative risk will then underestimate the risk of venous thrombosis in users of third generation contraceptives compared with users of second generation contraceptives. This implies that the risk of third generation users may be higher than reported here.

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The primary outcome of interest to the medical researchers who wrote this BMJ medical journal article was a fatal or non-fatal first event of venous thrombosis with their main focus on deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE).   

Concerning YAZ, Yasmin, Beyaz, Safyral, Ocella, and Gianvi, as background the authors point out the increased risk of DVT and/or PE associated with those Bayer birth control pills:

The thrombosis risk for contraceptives with drospirenone was found to be higher than for combined oral contraceptives with second generation progestogens.

In support of that statement they direct us to these two Reference items:

• 20.  Jick SS, Hernandez RK. Risk of non-fatal venous thromboembolism in women using oral contraceptives containing drospirenone compared with women using oral contraceptives containing levonorgestrel: case-control study using United States claims data. BMJ2011;342:d2151. 
• 21.  Parkin L, Sharples K, Hernandez RK, Jick SS. Risk of venous thromboembolism in users of oral contraceptives containing drospirenone or levonorgestrel: nested case-control study based on UK General Practice Research Database. BMJ2011;342:d2139.

In the end, this new medical journal article serves to confirm the association of blood clot side effects like deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) with the DRSP birth control pills YAZ, Yasmin, Beyaz, Safyral, Ocella, and Gianvi.

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