Low-dose OCs Reduce Painful Periods

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low-dose oral contraceptives (OCs) may relieve painful menstruation in adolescent girls, according to study findings published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology this month.

Oral contraceptives, write the investigators, "should become an important treatment option for the millions of adolescents" who experience significant discomfort from painful periods and are currently under treated.

In the study, Dr. Anne Rachel Davis and colleagues from Columbia University, New York, randomly assigned 76 girls aged 19 years or less to either an oral contraceptive or a placebo for 3 months. All of them had moderate or severe pain during their period.

By the third menstrual cycle on treatment, girls in the OC group reported significantly less pain compared with those in the placebo group.

The subjects in the OC group reported their worst pain as being less than that in the placebo group. They also reported fewer days of any pain, fewer days of severe pain, and fewer hours of pain on the worst pain day by cycle 3.

OC users also used fewer pain medications than placebo users.

No severe treatment-related adverse events were observed. Two girls in the OC group stopped taking the medication, one due to nausea, and one due to acne. One subject in the placebo group discontinued due to moodiness.

The results of this study, the authors say, support the use of low-dose OCs for the treatment of painful menstruation.

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology July 2005.