Effects of prolonged use of injectable hormonal contraceptive on serum lipid profile

Abstract

The current study was carried out to determine serum levels of total cholesterol, triacylglycerol (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in human female volunteers taking injectable hormonal contraceptives. For this purpose, 200 (two hundred) subjects with age range of 20-35 years were selected. Out of them, 140 (one hundred and forty) were experimental subjects and 60 (sixty) were control. Women without hormonal contraceptive were selected as the subjects of control group. The experimental subjects were taking injectable hormonal contraceptive, DMPA (depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate) for 3-5 years uninterruptedly. The mean serum total cholesterol and mean serum triacylglycerol levels of the DMPA users were significantly (P<O.05 and P<0.01 respectively) elevated in comparison to that of the non-users. The mean serum HDL-cholesterol was decreased in subjects using DMPA in comparison to that of the control group. But the decrease was not significant (P>0.05). The mean serum LDL-cholesterol level of the subjects of DMPA users was significantly (P<0.05) elevated in comparison to that of the control.