For some people, vaginal rings or the patch might be more convenient than popping a pill every day, but there's a new study out that shows they carry increased risk of blood clots. The study was done at the University of Copenhagen and used data from more than 1.6 million women. What the researchers found was that women using the pill had a three-fold increase in the risk of clots compared to women who weren't using contraception. Women who used a vaginal ring had 6.5 times the risk of those not using contraception, and those using a skin patch had eight times the risk. While doctors say it's important to be informed of the risks of various contraceptive methods, there's no reason to freak out. For one thing, even though the risk increases, the number of people who actually get clots still remains very small. For instance, only six in 10,000 women using an oral contraceptive will have a clot each year. What's more, the risks of developing clots when using any of these types of birth control are still significantly lower than the risk you run of getting a clot while pregnant. So while it might be slightly less dangerous to use the pill, if for whatever reason the patch or a vaginal ring works better for you, you don't need to sweat it.
Vaginal rings 'riskier than contraceptive pill' [BBC]
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