Women who love the Ortho Evra Contraceptive Skin Patch must take care to read its label, as they should.
The United States Food and Drug Administration has authorized changes to the labeling of the product. The new label suggests that women with risk factors for serious blood clots should consult with medical professionals first before using it.
FDA did so in response to a new epidemiology study by the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program. The study concluded that the chances of developing VTE (venous thromboembolism) or serious blood clots are greater among women who use skin patches than those using birth control pills.
This problem had already been recognized before. Ortho Evra had already undergone label changes in 2006, when researchers from i3 Ingenix and the BCDSP noticed the problem.
Applied once every week, Ortho Evra skin patches release hormones into the blood that trigger reactions different from birth control pills. The hormones are ethinyl estradiol and norelgestromin. Via a transdermal patch, both increase the levels of estrogen by 60% more than if they were ingested using traditional contraceptive pills.
Heightened levels of estrogen have been associated with VTE, which is dangerous as it can lead to pulmonary embolism.
Well, all of these boil down to the importance of reading labels. Thank god for the vigilance of the FDA.
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