Interest Of Extended-Cycle Oral Contraceptive Increasing Among Women, Survey Finds

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 30 Jul 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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More than two-thirds of women in the U.S. said they are interested in suppressing monthly bleeding using extended-cycle oral contraceptives, according to a survey recently presented at a conference of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, HealthDay/Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin reports. Despite increased interest, women also expressed some reluctance about the safety of suppressing monthly bleeding, the survey found. However, 97% of physicians surveyed said that it is medically safe and acceptable to suppress bleeding.

According to HealthDay/Press & Sun-Bulletin, extended cycling has been used for years by doctors who have been tailoring birth control regimens to women's needs by telling them to skip the week of placebo pills contained in most oral contraceptive packs and begin a new pack. Patricia Aikens Murphy -- associate professor and the Annette Poulson Cumming Presidential Endowed Chair in Women's and Reproductive Health at the University of Utah College of Nursing -- said that the "only difference recently is that we have these dedicated products."

The current generation of oral contraceptives includes Seasonale and Seasonique, which allow women to reduce their number of annual menstrual periods to four times per year. In addition, Loestrin 24 Fe and Yaz enable women to have shorter monthly periods than traditional birth control regimens allow. Lybrel is a continuous use product that stops monthly bleeding altogether, HealthDay/Press & Sun-Bulletin reports.

Lee Shulman, professor and chief of reproductive genetics in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said, "In the last 10 years, there really has been almost a revolutionary change in the opinions and the views of women regarding menstruation." He added, "It's not just the more mature reproductive women desiring fewer withdrawal bleeds. Now that's becoming a more common desire among even younger women seeking hormonal contraception" (Pallarito, HealthDay/Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, 7/24).

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