Alterations in clinical chemistry measures associated with oral contraceptive and estrogen use: the Lipid Research Clinics Program Prevalence Study

The associations of current oral contraceptive (OC) or estrogen use and mean levels of a variety of clinical chemistry measurements have not been previously described in large, free-living populations. We compared mean fasting measurements of eight clinical chemistry tests (alkaline phosphatase, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT], total bilirubin, globulin, thyroxine, creatinine, uric acid and plasma glucose) adjusted for age, body mass, education, alcohol use, smoking and study population variation in approximately 1,500 white women from nine North American Lipid Research Clinic populations. Compared to hormone nonusers of the same age, OC users aged 20 to 39 years had significantly lower mean values of serum alkaline phosphatase, SGOT, total bilirubin and plasma glucose, while serum globulin, thyroxine and creatinine levels were significantly higher. Mean uric acid values were not significantly different. Estrogen users aged 50 to 69 years had significantly lower mean values of alkaline phosphatase and total bilirubin and significantly higher thyroxine and uric acid levels as compared to hormone nonusers aged 50 to 69 years.