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Ortho Evra and Venous Thromboembolism Risk – Why You Need to Read More Than Abstracts
When Ortho Evra, the contraceptive patch came on the market, physicians were happy that women had a new and novel contraceptive method that significantly expanded options over what was already available. Since that time, hundreds of thousands of women worldwide have safely used Ortho Evra for birth control.
As the transdermal patch was a new delivery method for birth control, several new pharmacokinetic studies were done postmarketing, in addition to those done prior to FDA approval. One of these studies demonstrated that patients using Ortho Evra had on average 60% higher estrogen blood levels than patients on oral contraceptives, despite lower peak levels (1). Given that estrogen somewhat increases the risk of venous thromboembolism(VTE), this data raised the concern that Ortho Evra might confer a greater attributable risk than traditional oral contraceptives.
Academic OB/GYN 