There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
A total of 100 women who were using depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) for contraception
and who had experienced at least 6 months of drug induced amenorrhea, were randomized
to either switching their method of contraception to Cyclofem, or continuing with
DMPA. At the end of 6 months, 82% of the Cyclofem users had experienced some vaginal
bleeding, compared with 10% of DMPA users. Time to resumption of vaginal bleeding
was related to the duration of DMPA use to the duration of DMPA induced amenorrhea,
and to the body mass index of the user. Over the 6 months of follow-up, 94% of Cyclofem
users complained of some side effects, compared with 22% of DMPA users. The most frequently
cited problems among Cyclofem users included breast tenderness, abdominal pain, and
dysmenorrhea; yet a third of these women opted to stay on Cyclofem at the end of the
study. It is concluded that switching to Cyclofem is a new option for DMPA users who
are concerned about amenorrhea. Although using Cyclofem in this setting will not meet
the needs of all such women, its effectiveness in inducing vaginal bleeding justifies
a trial in those who have no contraindication to estrogen treatment.