[Estrogen therapy and vascular risk].

It is well known that there exists a significant correlation between cardiovascular mortality and pathology and estrogen therapy. Arterial hypertension and cerebral thrombosis can be added complications. It is estimated that of over a million OC (oral contraception) users, 100 are susceptible of vascular accidents, and 5 of death. If the absolute value of such risk can be considered small, it augments signfiicantly in connection with such factors as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and especially, smoking. The physiopathology of alterations caused by OCs is still under discussion, but it is possible that synthetic estrogen and ethinyl estradiol are mainly responsible for side effects, while estradiol-17 beta seems to limit the development of vascular risk. Reducing the dosage of ethinyl estradiol, as in the minipill, does not solve the metabolic problem.