According to new research, the risk of attempted suicide among women who use hormonal contraception is lower than those who do not.
The findings contradict previous research that claimed hormonal contraceptives, such as the birth control pill, were related to increased suicide attempts, raising safety concerns.
According to the experts, hormonal contraceptives are among the most often used medications.
Dr Elena Toffol of the University of Helsinki, who presented the findings at the European Congress of Psychiatry, said, “We set out to validate existing evidence, so this is not what we expected, and it’s fantastic news for contraceptive users.”
The University of Helsinki researchers compared the attempted suicide rates of hormonal contraception users and non-users using data from 2017 to 2019.
They analysed data from 587,823 women, almost half of all women aged 15 to 49, and discovered that half had used hormonal contraception, such as tablets, implants, patches, and rings.
The study discovered that attempted suicide rates among hormonal contraception users and non-users were comparable among women aged 15 to 19, while suicide rates fell in later age groups.
The researchers observed 474 suicide attempts among women who did not use hormonal contraception and 344 shots in those who did.
“Of course, this striking finding deserves careful evaluation,” said Professor Andrea Fiorillo of the University of Campania in Naples, who was not involved in the study. “It needs to be replicated in different cohorts of women and controlled for the impact of several psychosocial stressors, such as economic upheavals, social insecurity, and uncertainty due to the Covid pandemic.”
“The study’s therapeutic ramifications are evident, and it may assist to de-stigmatize the use of hormonal contraceptives.”
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