--- title: Birth Control and Blood Clots: The Pill Can Boost Risk by 4-Fold description: A new study puts a number on the risk of developing potentially fatal blood clots after using the pill canonical: https://time.com/3897046/oral-contraceptives-blood-clots/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-26T22:30:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:08:09.283Z article:section: Health og:title: Here’s How Much Oral Contraceptives Raise the Risk of Blood Clots og:description: A new study puts a number on the risk of developing potentially fatal blood clots after using the pill og:url: https://time.com/3897046/oral-contraceptives-blood-clots/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s How Much Oral Contraceptives Raise the Risk of Blood Clots twitter:description: A new study puts a number on the risk of developing potentially fatal blood clots after using the pill twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Newer Birth Control Pills Raise the Risk of Blood Clots > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=a652a93f-758b-4760-8ab4-874987433eeb&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The History of Birth Control [Watch (HLS stream): The History of Birth Control](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4oCau3Jn.m3u8) (3:12)  _Published 2015-01-22. For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 26, 2015 10:30 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 26, 2015 10:30 PM UTC Blood clots have been a known risk of oral contraceptives since the 1990s, but for most women, the chances seemed small enough to justify taking the Pill. Now, in a [report published in _The BMJ,_](http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.h2135) scientists led by Yana Vinogradova, a research fellow at the University of Nottingham, found that using the Pill was linked to anywhere from a two- to more than four-fold increased risk of developing clots compared to women who didn’t take oral contraceptives. “Our study suggests that the newer contraceptives have a higher risk of \[blood clots\] than the older agents,” Vinogradova tells TIME in an email. Overall, the risk for women on the Pill was nearly three times that of women not taking the medication. The risk was highest for people taking Pills that contain newer types of the progestogen hormone, such as drospirenone, desogestrel, gestodene, and cyproterone, as compared to people taking the Pill with first-generation versions of the hormone (levonorgestrel and norethisterone). The difference essentially boils down to the progesterone part of the drug; since the original pill was introduced in 1960, drug developers have tweaked the progesterone to lower side effects such as acne, headache, weight gain and breakthrough bleeding. But the price for those modifications may be more blood clots. Even after Vinogradova and her team adjusted for the potential contributions of things like cancer, heart disease, varicose veins, arthritis, smoking and obesity on the risk of blood clots, the link between the newer contraceptives and increased risk remained strong. “While \[blood clots\] are a relatively rare problem, they are serious and potentially avoidable with the appropriate drug choice,” says Vinogradova. “Doctors need to consider all health issues when prescribing contraceptives, selecting a drug type associated with the lowest risk for patients with particular susceptibilities.” Whether that means that doctors should start with prescribing the older formulations first—as well non-hormonal birth control [like the copper IUD](http://time.com/the-best-form-of-birth-control-is-the-one-no-one-is-using/)—isn’t clear yet, since the newer forms have certain advantages, including the fact that they disturb the cholesterol system less, which may be important for diabetic women. The blood clot risk, however, is something that doctors should consider when prescribing the Pill. And since there are different formulations available, Vinogradova says doctors should monitor their patients for any potential symptoms of poor circulation and switch to other formulations if needed. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] For as long as men and women have been having children, they've been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years. Unsurprisingly, not every method was all that effective. In ancient China, concubines would drink a cocktail of lead and mercury. Unfortunately, the side effects included sterility, brain damage. Kidney failure and death. Ancient Egyptian women would mix honey, sodium carbonate, and crocodile dung into a thick paste they would insert into themselves before having sex. In Greece in the year 200 a gynecologist named Soranus. Advised women to hold their breathe during intercourse and sneeze afterward. [ SNEEZE ] And in the Middle Ages in Europe, women believed tying weasel testicles to their thighs or around their necks during sex would prevent pregnancy. Huh? But it wasn't all a shot in the dark. Many modern forms of contraception have roots in the ancient past. For example, ancient cave drawings found in France appear to show an early version of the condom and a prototype of the cervical cap has been used since Casanova's days. In his memoirs written in the 18th century he describes using partially squeezed lemon halves to do the trick. [ MUSIC ] The modern history of not having babies begins in the mid 1800's. When vulcanized rubber was patented and condoms could be mass produced. [ MUSIC ] Yet for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries women had a hard time getting their hands on effective contraception. Contraception. Anti- obscenity laws in the US restricted anyone, including doctors, from spreading information about it. But that didn't stop women from trying to prevent pregnancy. Many women would use household products, such as Lysol or Coca- Cola, which they believed would kill sperm. [ MUSIC ] Advertisements for Lysol even endorsed the product as a way for women to protect their married happiness. All of that changed in 1960 when the FDA approved an oral contraceptive pill thanks to the tireless efforts of activist Margaret Sanger. And a team of doctors. Within five years millions of American women had prescriptions for the pill. In the following decades other forms of reliable contraception appeared, including IUD's. Safe and effective birth control still isn't a universal privilege. A 2013 report found that 222 million women from developing countries around the world. Said they wanted to use birth control but didn't have access to it. But in the US, a whopping 99 % of women of child bearing age say that they've used some form of contraception. No crocodile dung required. 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