The effects of oral contraceptive usage on thrombin generation and activated protein C resistance in Saudi women, with a possible impact of the body mass index

Abdulrahman B. O. Mohamed, Hilde Kelchtermans*, Joke Konings, Jamilla van Daal, Anas Al Marzouki, Steve Harakeh, Bas De Laat

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background and objectives

The effect of oral contraceptive (OC) usage on coagulation has been studied worldwide. However, no such studies have been conducted in Saudi Arabia on Saudi women using OCs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of OC-induced changes of thrombin generation (TG) in the absence and presence of activated protein C (APC) or thrombomodulin (TM) in Saudi women.

Methods

A total of 115 adult women, 47 on oral contraception (OC users) and 68 controls (not using OCs) were recruited from the obstetrics-gynecology outpatient clinic in Saudi Arabia. OCs that were used in this study include the following: Marvelon, Gynera, Cerrazetem, Yasmine, Microlut, Gracial and Diane. The plasma calibrated automated thrombinography (CAT) was used to determine TG which was expressed as endogenous thrombin potential (ETP; nM/ min), lag time (min), peak (nM) and time-to-peak (ttpeak; min). In the presence of TM or APC, TG parameters were expressed relative to the parameters in the absence of TM or APC.

Results and conclusion

As in other populations, our study demonstrated that OC usage induced prothrombotic changes in plasma of Saudi women, including resistance to the inhibitory actions of TM and APC. More specifically, OC usage in our population predominantly influenced TG and APC/ TM sensitivity in overweight and obese individuals, a finding that needs confirmation in large cohort studies. The effects of APC and TM on TG parameters showed a positive association, and the correlation coefficients were higher in OC users for both ETP and peak values.

Original languageEnglish
Article number0206376
Number of pages10
JournalPLOS ONE
Volume13
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Oct 2018

Keywords

  • VENOUS THROMBOSIS
  • RISK
  • COAGULATION
  • THROMBOEMBOLISM
  • DETERMINANTS
  • SYSTEM

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