The author believes that currently-marketed oral contraceptives are among the most safe and effective methods of fertility control. The data on oral contraceptives and myocardial infarction are consistent with a protective, death-sparing role for third-generation oral contraceptives. Moreover, the benefit-risk profile of second-generation pills is evaluated and approved by national and international regulatory bodies. Researchers, however, should still keep working to try to provide women with the best possible contraceptive methods. Specifically, the search for safer oral contraceptives should continue, clinical research should address unanswered questions about better oral contraceptive fits for women with distinctive clinical requirements, more research is needed into the benefits of oral contraceptive use, epidemiologists and biostatisticians must develop and improve methods which permit disentangling the effect from bias in observational research, and World Health Organization and Transnational European Project data on oral contraceptives and myocardial infarction need to be meta-analyzed.

作者：W O, Spitzer

来源：Human reproduction (Oxford, England) 1996 年 11卷 4期