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Abstract
Objectives: Evaluation of the impact of an oral contraceptive on body weight with a comparison of women who completed versus women who prematurely discontinued intake. Methods: Data on body weight were retrospectively analyzed from four large prospective clinical trials with an oral contraceptive containing 20 μg ethinylestradiol and 75 μg gestodene (EE/GSD). A total of 1971 young fertile women were included in the evaluation, and 1467 completed 12 cycles. Results: We found no clinically relevant change of body weight during treatment with an oral contraceptive containing 20 μg ethinylestradiol and 75 μg gestodene in the vast majority of users after 12 treatment cycles. The mean change of body weight was less than 0.3 kg in this time period for all users. Nearly 70% of women experienced a minor change in their body weight of ± 2 kg. An additional 13% lost more than 2 kg body weight in the course of 12 treatment cycles. A total of 11% increased their weight by 2-4 kg. A total of 1255 (85.5%) of women had a body mass index (BMI) of ≤ 25 at baseline compared to 1253 (85.4%) after 12 cycles of treatment. There was no significant difference in the change of body weight between the women completing 12 cycles of treatment and those who prematurely discontinued EE/GSD. Conclusions: This retrospective analysis confirms that there was only a negligible change of body weight during intake of an oral contraceptive containing 20 μg ethinylestradiol and 75 μg gestodene. There was no difference in weight change between the women completing the study or discontinuing intake.