Oral contraceptive use before and after the latest pill scare in The Netherlands. Changes in oral contraceptive use and how users change.

In October 1995, a "pill scare" developed in Europe. In the Netherlands, the recommendations given were 1) to not alarm women without risk for deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and 2) to be reserved in prescribing third generation oral contraceptives (OC) for young women who were beginning OC use. To determine whether there is a change in the prescription of third generation OC after the latest pill scare, prescription data from 1/10/94 to 1/10/96, covering a population of +/- 120,000 persons, were studied with respect to OC use before and after the pill scare. Trend analyses revealed a significant decline in third generation compared with total OC prescribing only in the youngest age category (p = 0.0034). Further, switch behavior was studied. Switches from third to second generation OC were more prevalent after the pill scare than before (odds ratio = 2.63; 95% confidence interval 1.84-3.75) and switches from second to third generation OC were significantly less prevalent after the pill scare. This indicates that Dutch prescribers have reacted to the pill scare in the way that the government recommended.