The effects of the oral contraceptive pill and smoking on peripheral blood flow in the lower limb
Item
- Title
- The effects of the oral contraceptive pill and smoking on peripheral blood flow in the lower limb
- Author(s)
- McWilliam Michelle
- Abstract
- The oral contraceptive pill is used by millions of women as a method of contraceptive, or for health reasons such as acne, heavy periods, menstrual related pains and/or irregularity of the menstrual cycle. For this study forty female students of the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy were tested to assess the cutaneous blood flow of the lower limb. METHOD: In order to ascertain the cutaneous blood flow in the lower limbs, a Laser Doppler Flowmeter was attached to the feet of each subject and the blood flow measured continuously over a period of five minutes. The results of each experiment were calculated for an average relative blood flow measurement. The subjects had to conform to one of four groups with the non-smokers and non-pill users being used as the control and the remaining groups being, non-smokers and pill users, smokers and non-pill users and smokers and pill users. Using t-test analysis the three latter groups were compared to the control group to assess any significant differences in blood flow between the four groups. RESULTS: The results show that a significant difference was apparent between the right and left leg blood flow measurements of the subjects. A significant difference in blood flow was also established when comparing the control to the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown that using the pill and smoking, either independently or combined, affects the cutaneous blood flow in the lower limb. Further research is needed to assess if this is the case for all types of oral contraceptive pill i.e. combined oral contraceptive pill, progesterone only pill and the pill injection.
- presented at
- British College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Date Accepted
- 2002
- Date Submitted
- 1.11.2003 00:00:00
- Type
- undergraduate_project
- Language
- English
- Number of pages
- 62
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 13012
- Inst-Identifier
- 1076
- Keywords
- Contraception,Oral contraceptives,Smoking,Blood flow,Leg,Laser doppler flowmetry
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
McWilliam Michelle, “The effects of the oral contraceptive pill and smoking on peripheral blood flow in the lower limb”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 4, 2025, https://www.osteopathicresearch.org/s/orw/item/1326