Suicide rates lower among women on pill study shows

WOMEN who take the pill are more than a third less likely to attempt suicide, a study shows.

Previous research indicated the contraceptive pill, one of the most widely used pharmaceutical products, actually increased the risk.

But research on 587,823 women has shown that rates of attempted suicide are lower in those that take the pill – and up to 37 per cent lower in those that take the hormonal contraceptive and pills containing the drug ethinylestradiol, present in commonly used UK pills such as Microgynon.

University of Helsinki researchers analysed suicide attempts, psychiatric history, age and contraceptive use.

They presented the findings at the European Congress of Psychiatry this week. Lead researcher Dr Elena Toffol said: ‘We set out to verify previous data, so this is not what we expected, and it’s good news for contraceptive users.’