Oral contraceptive use is associated with a reduced severity of dysmenorrhoea, but newer contraceptives may have less impact, a Scandinavian study suggests.
In a five year follow up of three cohorts of 19-year old women recruited in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Swedish researchers found that the severity of dysmenorrhoea was significantly lower in users of combined oral contraceptives compared to non users.
The magnitude of benefit for COCs was greater than for other protective factors such as increasing age and childbirth, the researchers report in the journal Human Reproduction (link) this month.
They also found that the effect of contraceptives on severity of dysmenorrhoea appeared to be weaker in the most recent cohort, which may...
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