Women who take oral contraceptives especially the ones who commenced using the birth control pills are at risk of developing lupus. Even though the relationship lupus and birth control pills have been debated , new research has added weight to the previous studies, which indicate that there is a relationship between the birth control pills, especially oral contraceptives and the disease ( Mak & Tay, 2014) . Essentially, the lupus is a disease associated with acute and chronic inflammation of body tissues. During the infection, the immune system erroneously confronts healthy cells and body tissues, which potentially damages the joints, skin, blood vessels, and a number of important body organs.
The development of lupus is associated with the production of antibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. The symptoms are associated with inflammation, joint pain, and damage to body organs ( Xiong & Lahita, 2014) . The use of birth control pills is linked with an increased risk of getting lupus, especially at higher doses. However, the birth control pills alone do not boost the risk, since it probably interacts with some genetic predisposition ( Mak & Tay, 2014) . It has also been noted that the benefits of birth control pills outweigh the risk of lupus.
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A study conducted by Culwell and Curtis (2013) indicates that birth control pills may increase the risk of lupus. The pills may interact with genetic predispositions to increase lupus risk. Therefore, women who use oral contraceptives at higher doses are at increased risk of developing lupus ( Xiong & Lahita, 2014) . Besides, individuals who take birth control pills have a higher risk of developing the disease. It has been noted that the risk of developing the condition is high in women who take higher dosage of the oral contraceptives with increased levels of estrogen for a period of few months ( Xiong & Lahita, 2014) . However, previous studies that focus the relationship of the oral contraceptives and the risk of the developing the disease have produced contradicting results.
According to Xiong and Lahita (2014) when individuals develop the disease, it is common for rashes to develop over several parts of the body, which are exposed to the sun, such as hand, wrists, and the face. Some patients with the infection notice a change in color in their finders, especially during cold weather conditions commonly known as Raynaud’s phenomenon ( Rojas-Villarraga, Torres-Gonzalez, J. & Ruiz-Sternberg, 2014). The condition occurs due to narrowing of the blood vessels, ultimately reducing the blood supply to the fingers and toes. Other symptoms of the disease are associated with hair loss, which is common but can be severe in some people. Joint pains are common to individuals with the disease. The pain usually tends to move from joint to joint, which is usually described as flitting. Inflammation and joint pain are considered as the main symptoms in some people ( Mak & Tay, 2014) . However, the disease does not usually cause joints to be permanently damaged or deformed. Research indicates that about 1 in 20 patients with the condition develop more severe joint problems. Also, fewer than 1 in 20 individuals with lupus may develop arthritis, which can deform the joints.
About 1 in 3 people with the disease have significant kidney problems that cause the inflammation of the body organ. The problem can be treated successfully provided that it is recognized early enough with regular urine, blood pressure, and blood testing (Doheny, 2019). As such, individuals with lupus are advised to take medication prescribed by a doctor to ensure that the kidneys are not permanently damaged. The disease can cause high blood pressure, especially when the kidneys are affected. The steroid medications used to treat lupus can increase blood pressure, especially when used in high doses ( Rojas-Villarraga, Torres-Gonzalez, J. & Ruiz-Sternberg, 2014) . In addition , the disease can result in the development of increased cholesterol levels, which should be monitors regularly, every year (Doheny, 2019). Besides, the disease may affect the bone marrow, which may result in anemic conditions and a reduction in the number of platelets in the blood. Apparently, blood-related problems tend to be common in minors who have developed the disease.
Research Question
The following study will be guided by the following research question .
Does birth control (hormonal factors) contribute to Lupus?
Methodology
To understand the relationship between the use of birth control pills and the risk of lupus, the experiment will use an observational approach will be used to assess the association of birth control exposure to the risk of developing lupus will be performed . The study will be a hospital-based control study, which will comprise of 100 incident cases of lupus, identified from records form a hospital with confirmed cases. Next, the experiment will include the same number of women who will act as controls. 100 women will be randomly selected from women discharged from the hospital during the same three-year period as those who have used oral contraceptives. However, the exclusion criteria from the controls will include women admitted with gynecologic or obstetric conditions ( Culwell & Curtis, 2013) . Data will be collected through a chat review, as well as interviews. In the current experiment, birth control use will not be associated with the onset of lupus. However, birth control exposures will be defined to make it possible for the participants to understand the premise of the study. Besides, the only documented odds ratio for birth control use will be for the current user, which will be associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.5. Also, the current use of oral contraceptives will be infrequent without necessarily mentioning the frequency. However, this will limit the precision of the results. However, before experimenting , informed consent will be obtained from the participants.
Table 1: Number of participants
| Incident cases of lupus (OR) | 100 |
| Control | 100 |
Table 2: Relationship between birth control pills with a significant increase of lupus
|
Year |
Oral Contraceptives use (OR) | Control (CL) |
| Year 1 | 95% | 2.0% |
| Year 2 | 95% | 2.7% |
| Year 3 | 95% | 2.1% |
Results
The results indicated that the use of birth control pills is linked with a significant increase in lupus. However, the findings were limited to the initial three months, when the participants were exposed to first and second-degree generation oral contraceptives with higher doses of estrogen. Hence, it suggested that an acute effect is susceptible in women and most probably a dose-response effect of birth contraceptives on the onset of the disease ( Culwell & Curtis, 2013) . The findings also indicate that estrogen can directly modulate the immune response, which may most likely complete the actions of some sex-linked genes, which may result in genetic predisposition of lupus. The findings also suggest that there has been an effect on the breakdown of the immune tolerance observed in lupus.
Conclusion
Previous studies on the risk of lupus following the use of birth control pills have indicated contradicting results. However, the results of the current research are consistent and complement studies that were sponsored by the Nurses' Health Study. The findings indicated that the uses of oral contraceptives that have increased levels of estrogen are linked to the risk of lupus. From the study, it is evident that the absence of significantly increased risk in third-generation birth control pills may be associated with the lower doses of estrogen compared to the first and second generation pills. Lupus is a disease that affects several parts of the body. When internal body organs are involved, such as kidneys, heart, and the brain, the condition can be more dangerous. However, most individuals will develop one of a few of the possible symptoms, which may appear and disappear concurrently. Therefore, the current study indicates lupus mainly affects women. However, the incidence of the disease increases after puberty and peaks during the childbearing period.
Acknowledgments
Based on the current study, it is acknowledged that in the next few years, addition research should be conducted to ascertain the results and confirm the currently demonstrated link between birth control use and the risk of lupus. Additionally, it is important to emphasize on the characterization of the risk associated with the disease based on demographics, such as age, gender, and ethnicity, which will be of particular interest. Overall, the current assessment of women exposed to new birth control formulations will assist in providing up-to-date information.
References
Culwell, K. R., & Curtis, K. M. (2013). Contraception for women with systemic lupus erythematosus. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care , 39 (1), 9-11. Retrieved from https://srh.bmj.com/content/39/1/9.short.
Doheny, K. (2019). Birth control pills may raise lupus risk. Web Med. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/lupus/news/20090413/birth-control-pills-may-raise-lupus-risk#1.
Mak, A., & Tay, S. (2014). Environmental factors, toxicants, and systemic lupus erythematosus. International journal of molecular sciences , 15 (9), 16043-16056. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/15/9/16043.
Rojas-Villarraga, A., Torres-Gonzalez, J. V., & Ruiz-Sternberg, A. M. (2014). Safety of hormonal replacement therapy and oral contraceptives in systemic lupus erythematosus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one , 9 (8), e104303. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0104303.
Xiong, W., & Lahita, R. G. (2014). Pragmatic approaches to therapy for systemic lupus erythematosus. Nature Reviews Rheumatology , 10 (2), 97. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/nrrheum.2013.157.
