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TUESDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Newer, "third-generation" birth-control pills that contain the synthetic progestin desogestrel are nearly twice as likely to cause potentially fatal blood clots than older pills and should be banned immediately, Public Citizen said Tuesday in a petition filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"While the use of any type of combined oral contraceptive holds an increased risk of venous thrombosis (blood clots), third-generation birth-control pills double that risk without preventing pregnancy any more effectively than older pills do," Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said in a prepared statement.

"Worse, the FDA has known since 1995 that these oral contraceptives were more dangerous but has allowed them to stay on the market for 12 years," Wolfe said.

FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan told the Associated Press that the agency would "carefully review the petition."

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

Labels on third-generation birth-control pills contain a warning about an increased risk of venous thrombosis. Blood clots, which typically develop in the legs, can break away and travel through the veins and block blood flow elsewhere in the body. If a blood clot lodges in the lungs, it can cause pulmonary embolism, which is often fatal.

Third-generation birth-control pills were developed in the 1980s in an attempt to create an oral contraceptive that caused fewer side effects than earlier versions. In December 1995, three independent studies concluded that third-generation pills were about twice as likely as second-generation versions to cause blood clots. Since then, more studies have confirmed that finding, according to Public Citizen.

Instead of desogestrel, second-generation birth-control pills contain norgestrel, levonorgestrel or norethindrone, Public Citizen said.

"The FDA must ensure the well-being and safety of women in the U.S. and ban third-generation oral contraceptives containing desogestrel," the Public Citizen petition stated. "Women should discuss with their doctors alternative methods of birth control, such as the second-generation oral contraceptives, and how to safely switch contraceptive methods."

In addition to the petition, Public Citizen has started an online campaign, including a video on YouTube, to promote awareness about birth-control pill safety.

According to Public Citizen, third-generation birth-control pills that contain desogestrel are: Desogestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol (Duramed/Barr and Watson Pharmaceuticals); Desogestrel and Ethinyl (Duramed/Barr); Desogen (Organon); Velivet (Duramed); Kariva (Duramed/Barr); Mircette (Duramed/Barr); Apri-28 (Duramed/Barr); Ortho-Cept (Ortho-McNeil); Reclipsen (Watson); and Cyclessa (Organon).

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about oral contraceptives.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Women with polycystic ovary syndrome who want to have a baby will probably have better luck if they take the fertility drug clomiphene instead of metformin, an insulin-sensitizing medication that helps induce ovulation in women with the disorder.

That's the conclusion of new research that found the live birth rate was 22.5 percent for women taking clomiphene, compared to just 7.2 percent for those on metformin.

"Many people thought that metformin would be more effective, but it failed on two counts -- either alone or in combination with clomiphene," said the study's lead author, Dr. Richard Legro, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State College of Medicine.

"Clomiphene alone is the gold-standard way for women with PCOS to achieve pregnancy," he added.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is published in the Feb. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Bristol-Myers Squibb provided the metformin and the placebos used in the study.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrinological disorder. It affects as many as 8 percent of American women and may be the cause of most infertility, according to background information in the article. Women with PCOS are often overweight, have excess body and facial hair, reduced insulin sensitivity and irregular menstrual cycles. The root of many of these symptoms is an excess of androgens, or male hormones.

Many women with PCOS are treated with metformin (brand name, Glucophage), a diabetes drug that helps increase the body's response to insulin. This, in turn, reduces the levels of circulating insulin, which reduces the levels of androgens. This often helps restore ovulation and normal menstruation, and possibly helps some women lose weight. Many also believe that metformin could help with PCOS-related infertility, according to the article.

Dr. David Guzick is dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, in Rochester, N.Y. The author of an accompanying editorial in the journal, he said: "Metformin took hold as a generally accepted treatment. The belief was that because you're addressing the underlying abnormality, you're restoring the system back to normal.

"Clomiphene was viewed as old-fashioned and not reflecting the physiology of PCOS. However, this study found the reverse is true, the old-fashioned way is shown to be preferable," he added.

Guzick said clomiphene works more directly than metformin when it comes to fertility. Clomiphene causes the body to release follicle-stimulating hormone, which stimulates the ovaries to release an egg.

For the new study, the researchers recruited 626 women with PCOS who were infertile. The average duration of infertility, according to Legro, was three years.

The women were randomly assigned to receive clomiphene plus a placebo, metformin plus a placebo, or both metformin and clomiphene for as long as six months.

The combination group had the highest live-birth rate with 26.8 percent. The live-birth rate for the clomiphene group was 22.5 percent, while the metformin group's live-birth rate was just 7.2 percent. The difference between the combination group and the clomiphene group was not statistically significant, the researchers said.

While metformin and clomiphene both caused women to ovulate more, Legro said another interesting finding from this study was that "all ovulations are not alike" and that studies like this one can't stop at looking at the ovulation rate but need to follow through to see how many women actually achieve a pregnancy.

Another concern, Legro said, was that more women on metformin experienced first-trimester pregnancy loss. While the numbers weren't statistically significant in the study, Legro said the finding was troubling, and he would recommend that women stop metformin as soon as they know they're pregnant.

The biggest concern with clomiphene is the increased risk of multiple births, according to Legro. In this study, the rate of multiple births in the clomiphene group was 6 percent, compared to zero percent in the metformin group.

The bottom line, said Legro, is that women with PCOS who want to conceive should get clomiphene as their first-line therapy. "Metformin is not as good as it was hyped to be, but this is not the first time a newcomer has been dethroned," he added.

Guzick said that, aside from medication, one of the most important things women with PCOS can do, both to get pregnant and improve overall health, is to lose weight.

"Even losing just five to 10 pounds can lead to a 50 percent increase in ovulation," said Guzick. And, losing weight prior to conception can also help women lower the risk of some pregnancy complications, he said.

More information

To learn more about polycystic ovary syndrome, visit the U.S. National Women's Health Information Center.

MONDAY, Feb. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Women are three times more likely than men to die of genital nonmelanoma skin cancer, new U.S. research shows.

Genital nonmelanoma skin cancer can be caused by sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), which is also associated with cervical cancer.

In this study, researchers found that almost 30,000 people -- 22,000 women and 8,000 men -- died of genital nonmelanoma skin cancers in the United States from 1969 to 2000.

The older a person is, the greater their risk of genital nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC). The findings were scheduled for presentation Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, in Washington, D.C.

"As dermatologists, we expect to see skin cancers induced by ultraviolet light, because sunlight is one of the primary risk factors for the disease," researcher Dr. Martin A. Weinstock, professor of dermatology and community health at Brown University in Providence, R.I., said in a prepared statement.

"But some of the most dangerous types of skin cancers are those that are not sun-induced, such as skin cancers that occur on genital skin -- a place that is not exposed to intense sun and is not routinely examined by dermatologists. That's why there needs to be an increased awareness of this issue, so patients and physicians can be better prepared to detect these cancers early before they become fatal," said Weinstock, who is also chief dermatologist at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Providence.

Because they're not always readily visible and may not cause any noticeable symptoms, genital skin cancers can be difficult to diagnose.

"The number of deaths attributed to genital NMSCs was higher than expected, and we believe HPV was a major cause of these cancers," Weinstock said.

"The availability of the new HPV vaccine offers the potential for a substantial reduction in the development of these skin cancers for future generations," he noted.

In addition, since "HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, both men and women can practice preventive measures that could lead to a decline in mortality rates from genital NMSCs and heed the warning signs of the disease, including new growths or sores that don't heal, to detect it early."

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about HPV and cancer.

MONDAY, Feb. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Even though they're at greater risk for cardiovascular disease, minority women in the United States know less about this serious health issue than white women, according to an American Heart Association survey released Monday.

Researchers compared the findings of the national survey of 1,000 women to previous survey results dating back to 1997, when the association started its "Go Red for Women" campaign to educate women about heart disease and stroke.

The new survey, published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Women's Health, highlighted several trends:

• Overall, women's awareness that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death has almost doubled over the past decade (57 percent vs. 30 percent).
• The disparity in awareness of heart disease among black and Hispanic women (31 percent and 29 percent, respectively) compared to white women (68 percent) had not changed in the past decade.
• Women know more about the risks and symptoms of heart disease than of stroke.
• Many women are unclear about the best ways to prevent CVD, such as the role of aspirin, hormones and supplements in prevention or the best diet for heart health.

Cardiovascular disease, which kills half a million women in a year in the United States, is the leading cause of death among American women. Black women have the highest rate of CVD deaths. Risk factors for heart disease and stroke are more common among women in ethnic minorities and those with lower socioeconomic status.

"Our data indicate that tremendous progress has been made in raising awareness of heart disease in women over the last decade," study co-author Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, said in a prepared statement.

"However, we still face the challenge to reduce ethnic disparities and maximize knowledge among all racial and ethnic groups. Because we have previously shown that awareness is linked to preventive action, our data suggest one potential way to reduce disparities in health outcomes in the U.S. is through more targeted efforts to raise awareness among racial and ethnic minorities who are least aware of heart disease and stroke and also at greatest risk," Mosca said.

More information

Here's where you can find out more about Go Red for Women  .