Lipoprotein oral contraceptive effects

Lipid changes seen with the most widely used combined oral contraceptives comprise an increase in low density lipoprotein and reductions in high density lipoprotein and cholesterol. The third-generation products have these effects to a much smaller extent, leading to claims that they would be less likely to have long-term adverse cardiovascular effects related to atherosclerosis. However, such a claim reflects an all too readily adopted belief that the lipid changes produced by the more traditional combined oral contraceptives are in this respect capable of causing this type of (primarily arterial) cardiovascular disease. This is of itself far from certain. 

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