Cohort study, 2017
Do birth control pills affect mood in healthy women without PMS?
In healthy women without PMS, birth control pills did not change overall positive or negative mood. However, pill users had fewer mood swings and fewer ruminating negative thoughts.
What they did
Longitudinal masked study of 92 healthy PMS-free premenopausal women, some using oral contraceptives and some naturally cycling. Participants completed online mood questionnaires 8 times over 2 consecutive cycles. The study design masked which cycle phase was being assessed.
What they found
Pill users and naturally cycling women did not differ in positive and negative affect, personality traits, or health. Compared to naturally cycling women, pill users reported fewer mood swings between depression and happiness in the mid-luteal phase (p=0.002) and fewer ruminating thoughts at all phases (p=0.003). MR-genotype effects were not significant after correction.
What it means for you
Birth control pills appear to stabilize mood variability and reduce negative thought patterns in healthy women. The study only included women without PMS, so we cannot say whether pills help women with PMS. Most pill users had been on them for more than a year, so women who felt worse may have already quit.
92
women studied
p=0.002
fewer mood swings in mid-luteal phase
p=0.003
fewer ruminating thoughts
About the study
- Original title
- Oral contraceptives positively affect mood in healthy PMS-free women: A longitudinal study
- Authors
- Hamstra DA, de Kloet ER, de Rover M et al.
- Journal
- Journal of psychosomatic research
- Year
- 2017
- Study design
- Cohort study
- Participants
- 92
- What was tested
- Oral contraceptive use (observational)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.10.011
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