Obesity and estrogen -containing contraceptive pills are both independent cardiovascular risk factors. Despite this, a significant number of obese women continue to receive prescriptions of estrogen-containing hormonal products for their contraception. A recent review published in ESC Heart Failure examined the clinical implications of obesity and contraceptive use on venous thromboembolic events (VTE) and arterial thromboembolic events in women.
Interestingly, in obese women using combined oral contraceptives (COCs), the risk of developing VTE was found to be between 12 to 24 times greater than that of nonobese and non COCs users. The compelling evidence of an interplay between obesity and contraceptive use provides new insights into the synergistic effect of obesity and COCs that clinicians must consider when prescribing hormonal contraception to obese women , who must be considered…
