JOIN USContraceptives tied to depression risk
Danish researchers studied more than a million women of ages 15 to 34, tracking their contraceptive and antidepressant use from 2000 to 2013. The study excluded women who, before 2000, had used antidepressants or had another psychiatric diagnosis.
Overall, compared with non-users, users of hormonal contraception had a 40% increased risk of depression after six months of use. Some types of contraceptives carried even greater risk.
Women who used progestin-only pills more than doubled their risk, for example, while those who used the levonorgestrel IUD (brand name Mirena) tripled their risk. The risk persisted after adjusting for age, educational level and other factors.
The study, in JAMA Psychiatry, also found that the risk was greater in adolescent girls, but this may be because they are especially susceptible to depression.
“Even though the risk of depression increases substantially with these drugs — a 40% increase is not trivial — most women who use them will not get depressed,” said the senior author, Dr Oejvind Lidegaard, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Copenhagen. “Still, it is important that we tell women that there is this possibility. And there are effective non-hormonal methods of birth control.”