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August 6, 2014
Tips for Increasing Contraceptive Pill Effectiveness in
Obese Women

Portland, OR—Very low–dose birth control pills may be designed as one-size-fits-all, but obesity, an increasing problem in young women, may lessen their effectiveness, according to a new study that recommends techniques to work around the problem.

The study, published recently in the journal Contraception, notes that past research has consistently found that obesity has a negative impact on drug levels in the body.

“Birth control pills have been shown in a large population study to fail at a higher rate in women who are obese,” said co-author Ganesh Cherala, PhD, an assistant professor at the Oregon State University/Oregon Health & Science University College of Pharmacy. “Our original studies were focused on why this might occur, and we found that obesity changes how a woman's body clears contraceptive hormones.”

The increased time for pills to reach steady states in obese women could affect both the efficacy of the birth control and the risk for a pill failure if the medication is missed or taken late, according to the authors. At baseline, the researchers found that the 31 obese women in their study group required an average of 12 days to reach steady state with oral contraceptives.

Two alternative strategies were studied: a slight increase in the pill dose, from a very low dose to a low-dose pill, or continuous use of the pill without a “period week” off. Both appeared to offset the obesity effect, according to the report.

“Since oral contraception remains one of the most popular forms of birth control in the United States and the majority of our population is obese or overweight, it's important to find methods of contraception that work for all women, no matter what their weight,” said lead author Alison B. Edelman, MD, MPH.

“The strategies that we studied can be, and are currently being used by women, but now we know that they help to counteract the adverse effects of weight on contraceptive hormones,” Edelman added.

The authors note that obese women have the option of shifting to an alternative form of birth control but point out that oral contraceptives are the most preferred method.




U.S. Pharmacist Social Connect