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Certain Birth Control Pills May Carry Higher Blood Clot Risk: FDA

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As the author of The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs, I think that increased awareness of risk of blood clots from drospirenone containing Birth Control Pills (BCPs) is important. This must be put in context with the relative risk from the other BCPs (roughly 10 in 10,000 for drospirenone versus 6 in 10,000 for the other pills).
The risk is rare, but risk generally increases in older women, overweight (obese) women, women who smoke and those with a family history of blood clots.
As always, the best colleague any doctor can have is a more fully informed patient. Women who have unexplained leg pain or shortness of breath and chest pain should call 911 immediately.

James J Rybacki, Pharm.D. of MD 10:41AM April 11, 2012