New research carried out by the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) has concluded that women who take hormonal contraceptives, be they birth control pills, patches or vaginal ring, have an increased risk of depression and of using antidepressants.
Previous research has suggested that changes in estrogen and progesterone levels may play a role in depression. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of these on the use of antidepressants and the first diagnosis of depression.
To do this, the researchers analyzed data from the Danish National Prescription Register and the Psychiatric Central Research Register that included more than 1 million women between the ages of 15 and 34, none of whom had a history of depression or use of antidepressants at the beginning. of the study. The patients had an average follow-up of 6.4 years.
During follow-up, 55.5% of the women used hormonal contraceptives; 23,077 diagnoses of depression were made and 133,178 prescriptions for antidepressants were signed for the first time.
In general, compared to women who were not using hormonal contraceptives, the other women were at increased risk of depression (1.23 times more) and antidepressant use (1.34 times more). The risk was even higher for adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 , as the risk increased 1.8 times for depression and 2.2 times for the use of antidepressants.
“ Our data indicate that adolescents are more sensitive than older women to the influence of hormonal contraceptive use at the risk of the first use of antidepressants or a first diagnosis of depression. This finding could be influenced by the fact that adolescents are more vulnerable to risk factors for depression ”, comments Oevind Lidegaard, co-author of the work.
The study has been published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal.
