Birth control pills are used as a method of family planning and, in turn, can be used as a treatment for different ailments such as hormonal disorders, severe acne or polycystic ovaries.
Regarding the main use for which contraceptive pills have been created, the World Health Organization (WHO) explains that family planning allows people to have the number of children they want and determine the interval between pregnancies. . It is achieved through the application of contraceptive methods and the treatment of infertility.
According to their data, at the global level, the use of modern contraceptives has increased slightly, from 54% in 1990 to 57.4% in 2015. At the regional level, the proportion of women between 15 and 49 years of age who use some contraceptive method has increased minimally or has stabilized between 2008 and 2015. In Africa it went from 23.6% to 28.5%; In Asia, the use of modern contraceptives has increased slightly from 60.9% to 61.8%, and in Latin America and the Caribbean the percentage has remained at 66.7%. Contraceptive use by men represents a relatively small proportion of the prevalence rates mentioned. Male contraceptive methods are limited to condoms and sterilization (vasectomy).
Regarding the most used hormonal contraceptive methods, we find:
- Combination oral contraceptives (the “pill”): contains two hormones (estrogen and progestin), works by preventing the release of eggs from the ovaries (ovulation), and is 99% effective in preventing pregnancy if used. uses correctly and sustainably;
- Progestin-only pills “mini-pill” or “mini-pill”: contain only progesterone (no estrogen), thicken the mucus in the cervical canal, which prevents sperm and egg from meeting and prevents ovulation. Can be used while breastfeeding; It must be taken every day at the same time, and its effectiveness in preventing pregnancy is 99% if used correctly and sustained;
- Implants (small, flexible cylinders or capsules that are placed under the skin of the arm; they contain only progestin): they thicken the mucus in the cervical canal, which prevents the sperm from meeting the egg and prevents ovulation . It must be inserted and removed by healthcare personnel; can be used for 3 to 5 years, depending on the type; Irregular vaginal bleeding is common but not harmful and its effectiveness in preventing pregnancy is 99%;
- Progestogen in injectable form: It is injected intramuscularly or under the skin every 2 or 3 months, depending on the product. Its function is to thicken the mucus in the cervical canal, which prevents the sperm from meeting the egg and prevents ovulation. When use stops, fertility takes time to reappear (about 1 and 4 months on average); Irregular vaginal bleeding is common but not harmful and its effectiveness in preventing pregnancy is 99% if used correctly and sustained;
- Monthly injectables or combination injectable contraceptives: injected every month intramuscularly; They contain estrogen and progestogen. They prevent the ovaries from releasing eggs (ovulation), irregular vaginal bleeding is common but not harmful, and they are 99% effective in preventing pregnancy if used correctly and sustainably.
- Combined contraceptive patch and combined contraceptive vaginal ring: releases two hormones continuously, a progestin and an estrogen, directly through the skin (patch) or through the ring. It prevents the ovaries from releasing eggs (ovulation). The patch and vaginal ring are new methods and studies on their effectiveness are limited. The efficacy studies carried out indicate that it may be more effective than combined oral contraceptives, when used correctly and sustainably, and as they are commonly applied. The patch and vaginal ring provide comparable safety to combined oral contraceptives with similar hormonal formulations and have a similar pharmacokinetic profile;
- Levonorgestrel intrauterine device (IUD): This is a T-shaped plastic device that is inserted into the uterus and releases small amounts of levonorgestrel daily. It thickens the mucus in the cervical canal, which prevents the sperm from meeting the egg. Over time, the amount of blood lost during menstruation reduces; menstrual pain and endometriosis symptoms decrease; Amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) was observed in a group of users. Its effectiveness in preventing pregnancy is 99% if used correctly and controlled;
- Emergency contraceptive pills (ulipristal acetate, 30 mg, or levonorgestrel, 1.5 mg): are pills taken to prevent pregnancy up to 5 days after unprotected sexual intercourse, Delays ovulation, If 100 women took the Progestin-only emergency contraceptive pill will probably make you pregnant. It does not alter pregnancy if it has already occurred.
If you need more information about contraceptive methods, I suggest you read , from the WHO.
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Before starting any treatment (whether it involves drugs or not), the person undergoing it must know the possible effects that could result from such a procedure. For many, in fact, professionals require the signing of an “informed consent” by the patient.
Due to their hormonal load, all of these methods have the potential to produce side effects in users, beyond preventing pregnancy. They can potentially influence emotions and cognitive ability, and this possibility makes it very important to be attentive to any changes that users of hormonal contraceptives may perceive.
New research provides preliminary evidence that hormonal contraceptives could influence how things are remembered. The study found that women who took birth control pills tended to remember less negative emotional information compared to women who did not take them. The lead author is Kirsten Oinonen, an associate professor of psychology at Lakehead University, who has researched the effects of oral contraceptives on mood.
“Given previous research suggesting that hormones can affect both mood and cognitive ability, we felt that looking at the effects of “the pill” on emotional memory would be an important area to study,” Oinonen explained.
For their study, they recruited 58 women who used oral contraceptives, 40 women who did not use oral contraceptives, and 37 men.
Participants completed an Emotional Spatial Memory Test, in which they viewed a variety of emotionally charged and emotionally neutral items that had been placed on a tray. Shortly after viewing the tray of items, participants were asked to make a list of all the items they could remember and to indicate where each item had been placed.
A week later, participants completed the same memory tests again.
The researchers found that oral contraceptive users tended to remember more positive items and fewer negative items than non-users on the short-term recall test. In the long-term memory test, there were no significant differences between users and non-users.
“The results of our particular study suggest that women who take ‘the pill’ may experience a change in their memory for emotional information. In particular, the findings suggest that women taking the pill may show a memory bias in terms of being less likely to remember negative information than non-users,” Oinonen said, going on to explain that as a result, women might take different pills. situations viewing pills, people, or objects as “more positive than they might have been if they had not taken the pill (i.e., because they are relatively more likely to remember the positive versus negative information).”
The researchers controlled for a number of variables that could affect mood and memory, including the phase of the menstrual cycle. But like all research, the study includes some limitations: the new findings need to be replicated in larger and more diverse populations.
As for future research, Oinonen noted that “as we look at memory for visual stimuli, future studies should examine whether women also show a tendency to remember less negative verbal, olfactory, auditory, and kinesthetic stimuli.” “Of course, a future placebo-controlled trial to look at the effects of oral contraceptives on emotional memory would provide the strongest evidence to support these findings.”
“I know many women who have reported experiencing emotional side effects from oral contraceptives, and I believe it is imperative that researchers continue to examine the effects of hormonal contraceptives on mood, cognition, and perception. “It is critical that women are fully informed about these potential effects so they can make informed decisions about birth control options,” she concluded.
References:
Alkema, L., Kantorova, V., Menozzi, C., & Biddlecom, A. (2013). National, regional, and global rates and trends in contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning between 1990 and 2015: a systematic and comprehensive analysis. The Lancet, 381(9878), 1642-1652. https://doi.org/
Person, B., & Oinonen, K. A. (2019). Emotional Memory in Oral Contraceptive Users: Negative Stimuli Are More Forgettable. Psychological Reports, 33294119856554. https://doi.org/
Family planning. (sf). Retrieved August 15, 2019, from
Trussell, J., Lalla, AM, Doan, QV, Reyes, E., Pinto, L., & Gricar, J. (2009). Cost effectiveness of contraceptives in the United States. Contraception, 79(1), 5-14. https://doi.org/
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