Why Hormonal Contraceptives May Cause Depression

A new study has revealed that hormonal contraceptives are associated with an increased risk of depression. According to the findings of this study published in ‘JAMA Psychiatry,’ Danish researchers studied more than a million women aged between 15 and 34, tracking their contraceptive and antidepressant use from 2000 to 2013.
While depression is a common but serious mood disorder that causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working, hormonal contraception refers to birth control methods that act on the endocrine system.
This pill works by preventing the ovary from releasing an egg, thickening the cervical mucus, making it difficult for the sperm to reach the egg and changing the lining of the uterus making implantation difficult.
This pill works by preventing the ovary from releasing an egg, thickening the cervical mucus, making it difficult for the sperm to reach the egg and changing the lining of the uterus making implantation difficult.
The study linking contraceptives to depression excluded women who before 2,000 had used antidepressants or had another psychiatric diagnosis.
The New York Times reported that over all, compared with non-users, users of hormonal contraception had an 80 per cent increased risk of depression. Some types of contraceptives carried even greater risk.
Women who used progestin-only pills more than doubled their risk, for example, while those who use the levonorgestrel IUD (brand name Mirena) tripled their risk.
The risk persisted after adjusting for age, age of first intercourse, educational level and other factors.
The JAMA Psychiatry study also found that the risk was greater in adolescent girls, but this may be because adolescent girls are especially susceptible to depression.
Reacting to the development, Dr. Oejvind Lidegaard, senior author and a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Copenhagen said: “Even though the risk of depression increases substantially with these drugs – an 80 per cent increase is not trivial – most women who use them will not get depressed.
“Still, it is important that we tell women that there is this possibility and that there are effective non-hormonal methods of birth control.”

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