HORMONAL CONTRACEPTIVES MAY CAUSE SUICIDE TOO

Prof Dr,DRAM,HIV /AIDS,HEPATITIS ,SEX DISEASES & WEAKNESS expert,New Delhi,India, +917838059592

Women who use hormonal contraceptives are at increased risk for suicide attempt and suicide. The highest relative risk is seen in adolescent women, a large Danish study indicates.

                     "Women should be aware of this potential adverse effect of hormonal contraception so that they might consider alternatives if they develop depression after starting use of hormonal contraception," Øjvind Lidegaard, MD, Department of Gynecology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, and Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, told Medscape Medical News.

             "Doctors should be a little more careful when they prescribe hormonal contraception to ensure that the woman doesn't have an actual depression or have been treated for depression and/or suicide attempts previously," added Dr Lidegaard.The study was published online November 17 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

           In a previous Danish nationwide prospective cohort study in women and female adolescents, the researchers found an association between use of hormonal contraception and depression, as reported by Medscape Medical News. The association was most pronounced among adolescents.In the current study, the investigators followed a complete national cohort of women aged 15 years and older to assess daily use of hormonal contraception and the risk for a subsequent first suicide attempt or suicide.

             Exclusion criteria included prior suicide attempts, antidepressant use, psychiatric diagnosis, cancer diagnosis, or venous thrombosis diagnosis, because these factors could influence both use of hormonal contraception and risk for suicide.