Rapid activation of haemostasis after hormonal emergency contraception

Hormonal emergency contraception (EC) is a well established contraceptive method, recommended to all women, although the effects on haemostais are not fully evaluated. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether exposure to EC has effects on well established cardiovascular risk factors, and also to examine whether differences exist between two EC treatments. In a prospective randomized cross over design 11 women used two different EC methods, one with estrogen and levonorgestrel (EE-EC) and one with levonorgestrel only (LNG-EC). Plasma concentrations of haemostatic factors (APC resistance, antithrombin, fibrinogen, prothrombin fragment 1 + 2, free protein S, factorVII and PAI-1), sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), the apolipoprotein (apo)B/apoA1 ratio and C-reactive protein (CRP) were followed frequently during the following 48 hours. A rapid haemostatic activation was induced with both treatments, although more pronounced with EE-EC. Already two hours after EC, the plasma concentrations of haemostatic parameters and SHBG were significantly different from baseline concentrations. An ETP-based APC-resistance method showed increased APC resistance with EE-EC and decreased APC resistance with LNG-EC. The ApoB/ApoA1 ratio was affected in a favourable direction with EE-EC.CRP increased slightly regardless of treatment. Even a very short exposure to exogenous sex hormones causes prompt effects on hepatic protein synthesis and the coagulation system. This must be taken into consideration whenever exogenous steroid hormones are administered, especially to individuals with a genetic predisposition to thrombosis or transiently disturbed haemostasis.