relative risk of fatal pulmonary embolism and COC

Last reviewed 01/2018

In a case-control study of 26 young women who died of pulmonary embolism:

• the relative risk of death from pulmonary embolism was 9.6 in those taking the OCP
• the absolute risk was 10.5 per million women-years

Reference:

• 1) Parkin, L., Skegg, DCG, et al. (2000). Oral contraceptives and fatal pulmonary embolism. Lancet 355, 2133-4.