WASHINGTON — Women's perceptions that they gain weight when taking hormonal contraceptives do not reflect reality.
Data from a pair of posters presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals refuted the long-held association between weight gain and using hormonal contraceptives in the form of a pill, ring, or patch.
Concerns about weight gain may lead women to discontinue hormonal contraception, according to Lauren Osborne, a graduate student, and colleagues at Columbia University, New York. No significant weight changes occurred from baseline among women who used either oral contraceptives or the vaginal ring in their randomized study of 201 subjects.
Overall, 167 of the 201 women completed three menstrual cycles using the oral contraceptive Ortho TriCyclen Lo (ethinyl estradiol and norgestimate) or a ring (ethinyl estradiol and etonogestrel). The study was supported by a grant from Organon Pharmaceuticals Inc., maker of the NuvaRing vaginal ring.
On average, the women gained 2.8 pounds, regardless of baseline weight or BMI and type of contraceptive used. The 34 women who reported a “bad change” in weight at the study's end had gained an average of 4.4 pounds, while the 112 women who reported “no change” had gained 2.2 pounds, and the 14 women who reported a “good change” had gained 3.3 pounds.
The mean weight of all the women studied was 146 pounds, and included women with BMIs in the healthy (less than 25), overweight (from 25 to 30), and obese (greater than 30) range.
In a second poster, Dr. Katharine O'Connell and Dr. Carolyn Westhoff of Columbia University reviewed data from 130 observational studies of combined hormonal contraception and weight gain dating from 1966 to 2003. These studies excluded progestin-only contraception, and most (118 of 130) included an oral contraceptive.
Regardless of what type of contraceptive was used, the investigators concluded that all weight gains described during hormonal contraception use were not significantly different from weight changes in the general United States population over the same period.