Survey study, 2009
Do female pilots want to suppress their periods with birth control, and does continuous birth control help?
Most wanted menstrual suppression but few actually used continuous birth control. Those who did had fewer side effects and were better at remembering to take pills.
What they did
Gave a voluntary anonymous questionnaire to 62 female U.S. Army aviation personnel deployed for combat operations. 58 responded. Asked about using birth control pills continuously to suppress menstruation and other factors related to pill use.
What they found
81% had experience using birth control pills and 93% knew continuous use suppresses periods. 66% wanted period suppression but only 33% used any birth control, and only 15% used it continuously. Of those not using continuous pills, 35% didn't know enough about them and 44% forgot to take daily pills. Women using continuous pills were more compliant, had less spotting and fewer unexpected periods than regular users. There was a trend toward less cramping with continuous use.
What it means for you
Many female pilots want to suppress periods during deployment, but lack of knowledge and difficulty remembering daily pills are barriers. Education and better strategies for taking pills could help. This is from one military group.
58
female pilots
66%
wanted period suppression
15%
used continuous pills
About the study
- Original title
- Menstrual suppression using oral contraceptives: survey of deployed female aviation personnel
- Authors
- Powell-Dunford N, Cuda AS, Moore JL et al.
- Journal
- Aviation, space, and environmental medicine
- Year
- 2009
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 58
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.3357/asem.2566.2009
Topics
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