Appropriate contraception for middle-aged women

Abstract

The United States Food and Drug Administration and the International Planned Parenthood Federation recommend that women over the age of 40 should utilize forms of contraception other than the pill. This decision was reached as a result of the 1975 clinical papers by Mann and his associates (Mann et al., 1975; Mann & Inman, 1975) and the epidemiological reports of the Royal College of General Practitioners (1977), Mann, Inman & Thorogood (1976) and Vessey, McPherson & Johnson (1977). Several authoritative bodies believed it prudent to suggest that the age limit for oral contraceptive use be lowered to 35, and even to 30 years (Anon, 1977; Planned Parenthood memorandum, 1977). The investigations of Inman & Vessey (1968) point to a precarious rise in mortality figures for women over age 35 on oral contraceptives.