Low dose oral contraceptive in Bangladesh: a study on acceptability and switching from standard to low dose. Summary.

Researchers compared prospective data on 400 women attending 1 of 4 family planning centers in Bangladesh who had taken the standard dose oral contraceptive (OC) C-5 and then switched (switchers) to the low dose OC Combination-3 who with data on 400 women attending the same clinics but who had not taken any OC before beginning to take the low dose OC (initiators) to examine their side effects continuation rates their sociodemographic characteristics and the effectiveness of the low dose OC. They followed the women for 6 months. The switchers tended to be older and to have a larger family size than the initiators. However switchers basically equalled initiators in terms of education last pregnancy outcome and breast feeding status. They were more familiar with the benefits and disadvantages of OCs than initiators. further switchers more likely understood what actions to take if they forgot to take 1-2 pills. After 6 months the blood pressure and body weight of switchers matched those of initiators. Both groups experienced a decrease in menstrual cycle length and in duration of menstrual flow. A small percentage of women had intermenstrual bleeding but by the 6th month no one experienced this bleeding. Similarly the percentage of women who suffered painful periods fell significantly over the 6 months. Incidents of nausea vomiting headache and dizziness waned. None of the women became pregnant during the 6 months. Switchers were considerably more likely to still be using OCs after 6 months than were initiators (92.5% vs. 81.2%). They also exhibited better OC compliance than initiators. In conclusion low dose OCs can prevent pregnancy as well as standard dose OCs and switching from a standard dose OC to a low dose OC does not cause higher failure rates.