Drospirenone is an oral contraceptive which was apparently accused to pave way for gall bladder disease, but this is not true. If experts from the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute are to be believed, then the relatively new drospirenone does not interfere with the risk of developing gall bladder disease than the older generation of birth control pills. The investigation seems to have great significance in the health domain.
During the study, experts evaluated a database of health records for 2.7 million U.S. women using oral contraceptives over 18 months. The aim was to ascertain whether there was a higher rate of gall bladder surgery or hospital admission for gall bladder disease among women using the relatively new drospirenone as compared to those on levonorgestrel. All oral contraceptive drugs are believed to accompany a small increased risk of gall bladder disease.
“There have been concerns about various risks of dropsirenone raised by consumers and their lawyers that have been covered by the news media, and which may in turn affect the decisions of physicians and their patients. This study should give women some reassurance that the drug is as safe as other contraceptives at least with regard to gall bladder disease, and women should weigh this against the increased risk of pregnancy that occurs when switching to another contraceptive drug,†shared Etminan, a pharmacoepidemiologist at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation at Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and an assistant professor in the Dept. of Medicine at UBC.
These drugs probably affect the heart and elevate the risk of blood clots. Claimed to be a novel investigation, scientists found that a small, statistically significant increased risk of gall bladder disease was present among dropsirenone users. However, in comparison to other traditional oral contraceptives, dropsirenone appears very much beneficial in avoiding gall bladder disease.
The study is published in the CMAJ.