Study: Newer birth control pills increase the risk of blood clots

Birth control pills.
(Image credit: iStock)

A new study published in the journal BMJ has found that women who take birth control pills that use newer types of the progestin hormone have three times the risk of developing blood clots compared with women not taking the oral contraceptive.

Blood clots have been a known risk of taking the pill since the 1990s. Drugmakers have been changing the progesterone levels of the pill since it was first introduced in 1960 in order to lower side effects like weight gain and acne. Those tweaks could be the reason why the risk of blood clots went up, considering that the scientists adjusted for factors like cancer, varicose veins, smoking, and obesity on the risk of blood clots, and the link between newer contraceptives and an increased risk of blood clots remained high, Time reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.