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New Kinsey Study on Adverse Effects of Birth Control Pills by Press Release
Kinsey Study Finds Adverse Sexual and Emotional Side Effects of Birth Control Pills Related to Discontinuation
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--- The birth control pill can have significant adverse
effects on sexuality and mood in a proportion of women, increasing the
likelihood of early discontinuation, according to a study by the Kinsey
Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana
University. Results of the study were reported in the July issue of
Contraception.
Stephanie Sanders, Associate Director at the Kinsey Institute and a
faculty member in gender studies at IU, directed the study of 80 women.
The research team included John Bancroft and Jennifer Bass of The Kinsey
Institute and Cynthia Graham, IU Department of Psychology.
The team found that of the women in the study who started on the pill,
(randomly assigned to either orthocyclen or orthotricyclen), 38% were still
taking it after one year, 47% had stopped, and 14% had switched to another
pill. The women who stopped or changed to another pill were 4 times as
likely to report sexual, emotional and physical side effects than the women
who continued with their oral contraceptive. Some of these effects included
decrease in sexual thoughts, less frequent intercourse and negative mood
changes.
The authors note that, despite 40 years of use, there is no way of
predicting which women are likely to experience adverse mood or sexuality
effects from oral contraceptives, nor which OC formulations are more likely
to be responsible.
"Though studies on the male contraceptive pill, still in the developmental
phase, have already included evaluation of possible effects on sexuality,
women have not had the benefit of such information in making contraceptive
decisions," explained Sanders. The authors call for further research to
identify predictors of such adverse effects, and to understand the hormonal
mechanisms responsible for such effects. In the meantime, women should be
fully informed and clinicians need to discuss potential effects of oral
contraceptives on sexuality and mood with their patients. This article appears in the following topics:
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