Non-randomised trial, 2008
Do the hormones in birth control pills affect thinking and mood?
Yes. The type of hormone affects spatial thinking. Second generation pills improve this performance, while Yasmin reduces it. Effects on mood were not clearly reported.
What they did
155 people using different types of birth control pills or no pills completed thinking tests (mental rotation and memory tasks) and questionnaires about mood, premenstrual syndrome, depression, blood pressure, and body fat.
What they found
The androgenic activity (male hormone-like activity) of the pills influenced performance on mental rotation tasks (spatial thinking). Second generation oral contraceptives, which are the most androgenic, led to the best performance. Third generation pills, Yasmin (which blocks androgens), and no pills led to worse performance. Yasmin users performed significantly worse than nonusers.
What it means for you
The type of hormone in birth control pills may affect how well people think about spatial tasks. The abstract doesn't clearly report effects on mood or PMS despite measuring them. It's unclear if these performance differences matter in daily life.
155
Individuals studied
2nd gen
Most androgenic pills with best spatial task performance
Yasmin
Antiandrogenic pill with worst spatial task performance
About the study
- Original title
- Oral contraceptives and androgenicity: influences on visuospatial task performance in younger individuals
- Authors
- Wharton W, Hirshman E, Merritt P et al.
- Journal
- Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
- Year
- 2008
- Study design
- Non-randomised trial
- Participants
- 155
- What was tested
- Comparison of oral contraceptive types varying in androgen levels
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1037/1064-1297.16.2.156
Topics
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