Oral contraceptives: views among primary health-care physicians and the general population.

Objectives: To ascertain the views of physicians and the general population concerning oral contraceptive (OC) use and the risk of thrombosis after the pill scare and, moreover, to investigate whether respondents' smoking habits had any impact on these perceptions.

Method: A questionnaire on family planning was mailed to randomly selected Finnish health-center physicians (n = 351) and to a random sample of Finnish women (n = 393) and men (n = 395). All were asked to evaluate statements concerning OCs using a visual analog scale from 0 (strongly disagree) to 100 (strongly agree).

Results: The response rate for physicians was 69%, for women 56% and for men 45%. Respondents in all subgroups agreed to some extent that OCs increase the risk of thrombosis. Among the population, more women than men were of the opinion that it is dangerous to smoke while using OCs and non-smokers were more aware of the risk of OC use and simultaneous smoking than were smokers. Physicians' personal smoking habits had no evident impact on opinions concerning OC use, risk of thrombosis and smoking.

Conclusions: Although differences existed between the perceptions of physicians and those of the general population concerning OCs, their opinions are realistic and in harmony.