Nuvaring Better Tolerated Than Other Hormonal Contraceptives - Most Users Report Greater Feeling Of Safety And Control Over Their Lives

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Fertility
Article Date: 06 May 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Women who switch to NuvaRing - the once-a-month contraceptive ring - from other forms of hormonal contraception experience a significant reduction in hormone-related adverse events, according to results from a study involving 900 Spanish women presented today at the European Society of Contraception [1].

The study also showed that eight out of ten women reported an improvement in quality of life after starting NuvaRing. The reasons that contributed most to this improvement were - a greater feeling of safety' followed by -- a greater feeling of control over their lives.

Lead investigator, Dr Lete Lasa, consultant gynecologist commented: "It is easy to understand the growing popularity of NuvaRing among Spanish women in the context of these findings. NuvaRing is extremely well tolerated and women clearly appreciate the convenience of its once-a-month action."

NuvaRing is a highly reliable contraceptive offering the advantage of a once-a-month regimen, while minimizing women's exposure to estrogen. Comparative studies show NuvaRing offers superior cycle control to the Pill, while reducing the incidence of estrogen-related side effects.

Dr Lete Lasa attributed the low incidence of hormone-related adverse events with NuvaRing to its low and steady release of hormone. Previous research shows that total monthly serum exposure to estrogen is 3.4 times lower among women using NuvaRing than those using the transdermal patch, and 2.1 times lower than those using an oral contraceptive containing 30 mcg of estrogen. At the same time, NuvaRing users experience fewer fluctuations in blood hormone levels than women using the contraceptive patch or the pill do.

NuvaRing is proving particularly popular in Spain. Accordingly, Dr Lete Lasa and colleagues at the Santiago Apostol Hospital in Vitoria Spain set up a clinical experience program to investigate aspects of its use. They invited all women requesting contraceptive advice at a number of centres to participate in a six-month observational, prospective open study with NuvaRing. Women were classified as either new users of hormonal contraception if they were not previously using hormonal contraception or switchers if they switched to NuvaRing from another hormonal contraceptive.

The results showed that among switchers, the incidence of nausea, headache and breast tenderness was significantly lower after 3 cycles of NuvaRing use compared to baseline and this improvement was maintained and strengthened at cycle 6. More specifically, the percentage of women with breast hypersensitivity decreased from 6.4 % at baseline to 1.7 % after 6 cycles of use and headache fell from 10% at the start of the study to 1.2%.

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Organon - with shared head offices in Roseland, NJ, USA and Oss, The Netherlands - creates, manufactures and markets prescription medicines that improve the health and quality of human life. Through a combination of independent growth and business partnerships, Organon strives to remain or become one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in each of its core therapeutic fields: gynecology, fertility, neuroscience and anesthesia. Organon products are sold in over 100 countries, of which more than 60 have an Organon subsidiary. Organon is the human health care business unit of Akzo Nobel.

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The 9th European Society of Contraception is currently underway in Istanbul, Turkey" Improving life quality through contraception & reproductive health care" is the main topic of the congress.

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