Factors in oral contraception related hypertension

Abstract

Essential patient data are tabulated for 13 patients who became hypertensive after using oral contraceptives and were seen during a 2 1/2-year period. All the contraceptives the patients were using contained mestranol as the estrogenic component. Possibly all the women had some degree of underlying kidney pathology which made them sensitive to the aldosterone-elevation effect of the oral contraceptives. It is suggested that from an individual hypertensive patient standpoint this reaction should be kept in mind especially in women 30 years of age or older.