Long‐Term Treatment with Combined Oral Contraceptives and Cigarette Smoking Associated with Impaired Activity of Tissue Plasminogen Activator

The fibrinolytic activity in vein walls (FAV) was determined by a semi-quantitative fibrin slide technique in a group of 68 healthy middle-aged women consisting of 22 healthy controls, 19 non-smoking contraceptive pill users and 27 cigarette-smoking non-users. Significantly decreased FAV was demonstrated in pill users because of high frequency of low values among women using combined oral contraceptives (OC) for more than 5 years. Significantly lower FAV was also recorded in smoking non-users, among whom low FAV values were found mainly in heavy smokers. However, no effect of OC usage for less than 5 years was observed, neither did smoking of less than 10 cigarettes daily influence FAV. Thus, the two well-known risk groups with respect to circulatory diseases, long-term contraceptive users and heavy smokers, included the vast majority of middle-aged women with impaired plasminogen activator activity.