[Vascular risk of oral contraceptive agents: realities and mechanisms. I. Risk evaluation]

The suspected risk of oral contraception was confirmed when large scale epidemiological studies became available. The present work recalls the methodology of a good evaluation, the pros and cons of retrospective and prospective studies, the different appreciations provided by measuring "relative risk" or "attributable risk". In terms of public health, the data obtained supported the necessity to include mortality related to oral contraception in an evaluation of reproductive mortality. This work compares the incidence of vascular complications evaluated through different studies, according to the criteria selected and the type of vascular disease. The advantage of lowering estrogen content is considered.