Study: Obese Women on Birth Control Pills Have Increased Risk for Cerebral Venous Thrombosis (CVT) Which Is an Uncommon Kind of Stroke

Obesity has been a problem people around the world are facing. The most common health issue obese people face, on the other hand, is stroke. In a recent study, researchers found that obese women who take oral contraceptives can contribute to a higher chance of developing a rare kind of stroke.

Health Magazine reported that a group of Dutch researchers discovered that obese women on birth control pills were nearly 30 times more at risk of developing a rare kind of stroke known as cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), than those women with normal weight on birth control pills.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, CVT happens when a clot forms inside the brain that can lead to the blood leaking into the cerebral tissues causing a hemorrhage. The damage does not only happen to the brain but other parts of the nervous system as well. Johns Hopkins also said that although CVT is uncommon, it accounts for 0.5 to 1 percent of all strokes, and one most common risk factor is the use of oral contraceptives.

The current study led by author Dr. Jonathan Coutinho, a stroke and neurologist at the Academic Medical Center at University of Amsterdam revealed that about 4,200 people from this kind of stroke in the United States annually. However, no one has analyzed the increased risk for women who are both obese and taking oral contraceptives. The authors of past studies suggested that obesity speeds up a person's risk of deep vein thrombosis (a type of blood clot in the leg), and pulmonary edema (a dangerous clot that forms in the lungs), medicaldaily.com reported.

For the study, Dr. Coutinho and his colleagues studied the medical records of 186 patients with CVT from two different hospitals and compared them to the histories of 6,143 healthy "controls" which drew the researchers to come up with surprising conclusions.

They discovered that patients with CVT were usually younger female who are on contraceptives, or those with history of cancer when compared to other study participants. When researchers analyzed the numbers, the authors found that it is obesity (a BMI of 30 or higher) that explains the increased in the risk of CVT among those women who take oral contraceptives.

The researchers also found that there are almost 30 times increased risk of CVT among obese women on birth control pills compared to those with normal weight who weren't taking the pill. However, the researchers found no connection between CVT and obesity in women who didn't use birth control pills showing that the pills may be at fault.