SummaryA controlled prospective survey of women taking oestrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives showed increases in mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure of 14-2 mm Hg and 8-5 mm Hg respectively after four years. The largest increases in individual cases were 36 mm Hg systolic and 20 mm Hg diastolic. Blood pressure returned to pretreatment levels within three months after oral contraceptives had been stopped. These changes in blood pressure were unrelated to the progestogenic potencies of the preparations being taken.

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SummaryIn 26 women receiving either medroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo‐Provera) injections or combined oestrogen‐progestogen pills for contraception, tests of coagulation and fibrinolysis were performed before treatment, and after 8, 16 and 24 weeks of therapy. In the medroxyprogesterone group no significant changes were induced in fibrinogen, the vitamin K‐dependent factors, or antithrombin III. Plasminogen levels fell during therapy, and were significantly lower than pre‐treatment values after 16 and 24 weeks. By contrast, the 13 women receiving oral contraceptives showed raised levels of fibrinogen and plasminogen after 8 weeks of treatment, and of factors VII and X after 24 weeks. These data suggest that medroxyprogesterone acetate injections induce fewer changes in the blood coagulation system than oral contraceptives.

During a 10-month period, 250 unmarried girls presented to the Glasgow Advisory Centre (G.A.C.), thinking that they were pregnant, and in 210 cases, pregnancy was confirmed. In 88 of these 210 girls, it was known that termination of the pregnancy was carried out, either in Glasgow or in England. Five girls were known to continue with the pregnancy, while the remaining 117 defaulted from further attendance and their outcome could not therefore be determined. Some of the problems associated with termination of pregnancy in the unmarried have been discussed including the workings of the Abortion Act, the role of the General Practitioner and the lack of facilities in the Glasgow area, both for the provision af advice and the performance of termination.