A recent wire news service report, labeled as misleading by a Food and Drug Administration official, warned that newer birth control pills appear to be less effective at preventing pregnancy than those approved decades ago. But the story wasn’t enough to sway student opinion on the pill.
“How can they be less effective after 40 years?” University senior Jordan Crucchiola questioned.
University freshman Kaitlin Pacheco said that she didn’t hear about the news.
“Why would it not be as effective?” she wondered.
University senior Sophie Kamesar said she wouldn’t trust any initial reports warning that newer birth control pills aren’t as effective as older pills.
“There would have to be a complete study,” she said.
An Associated Press story published last week reported that newer contraceptives could have twice the failure rate than previous products. The article, which quoted FDA meeting briefing documents, charged that birth control pills approved in the 1960s allowed less than one pregnancy when taken by 100 women for at least a year, while recently government-approved pills allow more than two pregnancies for every 100 women.
The FDA released a statement on its Web site saying the article created misperceptions.
FDA spokesman Mitchell Weitzman said the data presented in the story is inconclusive. He said the data is misleading because newer pills are safer. Newer birth control pills release lower doses of hormones that stop ovulation.
“The new generation of hormonal contraceptives are very highly effective,” he said.
University Health Center Director Tom Ryan called the initial report misconstrued. He said there’s a chance the first generation of oral contraceptives were more effective, but they contained high levels of estrogen and progestin, which caused side effects, as well as higher risks of serious complications.
“As a result, pills have been developed containing much lower doses of hormone,” Ryan said in an e-mail.
He said it’s possible the effectiveness of perfect use – taking the pill at the same time every day and not being affected by other medications or health problems – might be slightly lower compared to older, high-dose pills.
Ryan assured that the newer pills are “highly effective contraceptives while greatly decreasing side effects and risks for users.”
Newer birth control pills are better than 99 percent effective with perfect use, said Jolene Siemsen, a nurse practitioner at the University Health Center.
Ryan said that perfect use rates don’t always mirror real-life situations.
“Few of us can be consistently perfect,” Ryan said. “The ‘actual use’ effectiveness for oral contraceptives is about 95 percent, as compared to perfect use effectiveness rates over 99 percent.”
Siemsen said the original news report didn’t concern her and that she is confident in the effectiveness of the pills.
“Someone can always add condoms to assure they’re adequately protected,” Siemsen said. She added that there might be concerns on the effectiveness of the pill in terms of body size.
Most birth control companies test pills on average-weight women, so the effects on overweight and underweight women are unknown.
Effectiveness also depends on the user’s habits, Siesmen said.
“You need to take the pills appropriately,” she said. Siesmen added that users should take the pill everyday at the same time.
Siemsen said that the news report didn’t increase student concerns about the birth control pill at the Health Center.
“There weren’t any new or different concerns,” Siemsen said. “People are always interested in how effective the pill is versus a condom or another contraceptive method, though.”
At its meeting this month, FDA officials discussed clinical trial designs to include a broad range of users, according to an FDA statement.
“The whole point of the meeting was really to say, ‘going forward, what should clinical trials look like?’” Weitzman said.
The FDA wants to investigate how well studies have documented real-world use of new birth control pills, which is less consistent than in clinical studies, Weitzman said.
Nearly 12 million women in the United States were on the pill as of 2002, making it that country’s leading method of contraception, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. The top-selling pill is Ortho Tri-Cyclen.
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