Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Oct;199(4):351.e1-12.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2008.04.048. Epub 2008 Jul 3.

Physiologic and psychologic symptoms associated with use of injectable contraception and 20 microg oral contraceptive pills

Abbey B Berenson  1 , Susan D Odom, Carmen Radecki Breitkopf, Mahbubur Rahman
Affiliations

Physiologic and psychologic symptoms associated with use of injectable contraception and 20 microg oral contraceptive pills

Abbey B Berenson et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2008 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare menstrual, physiologic, and psychologic symptoms over 2 years among women initiating use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate or an oral contraceptive pill with a reduced pill-free interval and those not using hormonal contraception.

Study design: A total of 608 women reported their experience regarding 17 symptoms prior to initiating contraception and every 6 months thereafter for 24 months. Longitudinal relationships between symptoms and contraceptives were assessed after adjusting for age, visits, and baseline status of symptoms.

Results: Oral contraceptive pills were protective against mastalgia (odds ratio [OR], 0.7), cramping (OR, 0.5), hair loss (OR, 0.6), acne (OR, 0.4), nervousness (OR, 0.5), and mood swings (OR, 0.7). Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) was protective against bloating (OR, 0.5) and mood swings (OR, 0.7) but caused weight gain (OR, 2.3), bleeding episodes more than 20 days (OR, 13.4), and missed periods (OR, 96.9). Both methods caused intermenstrual bleeding.

Conclusion: Evidence-based data regarding beneficial and adverse symptoms associated with these methods may help clinicians counsel patients appropriately prior to contraceptive initiation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow of recruitment and retention across the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of menstrual symptoms across 24 months by contraceptive method. Data presented are for women who completed all 24 months of the study (n = 253) for ease of interpretation (ie, without dropouts included at each time point).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of physiologic symptoms across 24 months by contraceptive method. Data presented are for women who completed all 24 months of the study (n = 253) for ease of interpretation (ie, without dropouts included at each time point).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Prevalence of psychologic symptoms across 24 months by contraceptive method. Data presented are for women who completed all 24 months of the study (n = 253) for ease of interpretation (ie, without dropouts included at each time point).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sangi-Haghpeykar H, Poindexter AN, III, Bateman L, Ditmore JR. Experiences of injectable contraceptive users in an urban setting. Obstet Gynecol. 1996;88:227–233. - PubMed
    1. Polaneczky M, Liblanc M. Long-term depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo-Provera) use in inner-city adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 1998;23:81–88. - PubMed
    1. Potter LS, Dalberth BT, Canamar R, Betz M. Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate pioneers. A retrospective study at a North Carolina health department. Contraception. 1997;56:305–312. - PubMed
    1. Aktun H, Moroy P, Cakmak P, Yalcin HR, Mollamahmutoglu L, Danisman N. Depo-Provera: use of a long-acting progestin injectable contraceptive in Turkish women. Contraception. 2005;72:24–27. - PubMed
    1. Lim SW, Rieder J, Coupey SM, Bijur PE. Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate use in inner-city, minority adolescents: continuation rates and characteristics of long-term users. Arch Ped Adolesc Med. 1999;153:1068–1072. - PubMed

Substances