Omitting the first oral contraceptive pills of the cycle does not automatically lead to ovulation.

Objective: Our purpose was to test the hypothesis that omitting the first three pills of the contraceptive cycle leads to ovulation.

Study Design: Ninety-nine women, randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments of combined oral contraceptives, completed the study. Treatments contained ethinyl estradiol and either monophasic gestodene, triphasic gestodene, or monophasic desogestrel.

Plasma homocysteine and menopausal status.

The aim of the study was to measure the concentrations of plasma homocysteine in premenopausal and postmenopausal women, and to examine a possible relationship between plasma homocysteine and oestrogen status. Homocysteine metabolism was studied by a standardized oral methionine loading test, and oestrogen status was assessed by the measurement of serum 17 beta-oestradiol. Forty-six premenopausal and 26 postmenopausal healthy women without a history of vascular disease or adverse pregnancy outcome were recruited by public advertisement.