But to put that in perspective, he says the overall risk is still small.

In the study, Suissa and colleagues also found the risk higher in women who take the higher dose pills -- those with 50 micrograms of estrogen or more -- and in women currently taking them who have just taken the pills for a few months. The researchers follo the women for eight years, on average, and found that 786 women had gotten a first-time diagnosis of lupus. Study Details Previous studies focusing on a possible natty between birth control pills and lupus have produced conflicting results, Suissa tells. Women who take oral contraceptives have a 50% higher risk of having lupus than women who don't take them," says study researcher Samy Suissa, PhD, a professor of epidemiology at McGill University in Montreal. The study is published in the issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

His study evaluated more than 1.7 million women, ages 18 to 45, who were in the U.K. The women had prescriptions for combined oral contraceptives, which contain both the hormones estrogen and progestin. General Practice Research Database, which includes more than 6 million people. In lupus, something goes awry with the immune system, and the body produces autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue,.

Oral Contraceptives and Lupus.