TUESDAY, Feb. 17, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Cutaneous and subdermal hormonal contraceptives do not induce endothelial activation after four months of use, according to a study published online Feb. 6 in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Jesus Hernandez-Juarez, Ph.D., from the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in Mexico City, and colleagues studied the effect of a contraceptive skin patch or subdermal contraceptive implant on inflammatory markers and endothelial activation in 80 women between 18 and 35 years of age. Comparisons were made between vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), endothelial cell leukocyte adhesion molecule 1 (ELAM-1), von Willebrand factor (VWF), plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) before and after four months of use of the contraceptive method.
The researchers found that VCAM-1, VWF, and PAI-1 remained unchanged in the contraceptive skin patch group. There was a significant increase in hsCRP (P = 0.012) and a significant decrease in ELAM-1 (P = 0.022). In the subdermal contraceptive implant group there was a significant decrease in VCAM-1 (P = 0.022).
"Our results strongly suggest that these contraceptive methods do not induce endothelial activation after four months of use," the authors write. "Increase in hsCRP levels was unrelated to changes in markers of endothelial activation."
Abstract
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