ABSTRACT
More than 20 million women throughout the world are currently taking oral contraceptives. Conflicting reports in both medical and lay press regarding physical, psychological, and pathological alterations in body function have produced confusion in the minds of both medically qualified and lay people. The substantial incidence of hypertension in the general population makes it difficult to identify with certainty the women in whom the administration of oral contraceptives has led to an increase in the pre-existing hypertension or has produced hypertension in previously normal women. The liver plays a central role in the metabolism of both estrogens and progestogens and function may be impaired if administration of oral contraceptives is continued over a long period of time. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed regarding the contraceptive action of intrauterine devices. Intrauterine devices are playing an increasingly important role in modern contraception.
