CHICAGO (AFP) — Women who use oral contraceptives are at increased risk for developing hardened arteries, a condition that can lead to heart attack or stroke, according to a study released Wednesday.
Belgian researchers found that women who had used this hormone-based form of birth control were more likely to have plaques, or a buildup of fatty tissue, on their arteries than women who did not.
Atherosclerosis, the medical term which refers to a build-up of plaque inside the blood vessels, typically occurs with age.
Complications include heart attack or stroke, which occur when unstable pieces of plaque break off and block a blood vessel leading to the heart or brain.
The findings do not mean women should abandon this form of birth control, the authors cautioned.
"The implications are not that women should stop taking the Pill. They should look at reducing other risk factors for cardiovascular disease," said Ernst Rietzschel, a cardiologist at the University of Ghent in Belgium.
"They should watch their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, exercise and eat right. If they can limit their exposure (to oral contraceptives), that's good too," he said.
Rietzschel based his findings on a study of 1,300 Belgian women between the ages of 35 and 55. Some 81 percent had used oral contraceptives for an average period of 13 years.
Using ultrasound scans to look at the femoral artery in the leg and the carotid artery in the neck, the researchers found a surprising incidence of atherosclerosis among otherwise healthy women who had taken the pill.
They also noted that the rates of the disease increased dramatically with every decade of usage, rising by between 20 and 30 percent for every 10 years of use.
As a result, Rietzschel said there could well be an increase of heart disease among women now entering their 60s -- the first generation of women to use this form of birth control.
"We are coming to a stage where we might see the clinical consequences," he said. "We are the foot of a wave, but we cannot gauge the height of the wave that is coming."
The paper was presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida.
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