Living comfort at 1 year after placement of subcutaneous etonogestrel

Living comfort at 1 year after placement of subcutaneous etonogestrel

G. Donders, I. Riphagen, T. Van den Bosch

Department of Gynecology, Algemeen Ziekenhuis Tienen, Belgium

The etonogestrel implant contraceptive device (Implanon) was placed in the

upper arm of 188 women in 2001 at the outpatient gynecology clinic of the

general hospital of Tienen, Belgium. Patients were asked to fill out a

questionnaire at placement and again at one year after placement.

Discontinuation of the method was seen in 18%. The main reason of

discontinuation was excessive or irregular vaginal bleeding. Questions about

living comfort in the 145 users returning their questionnaire after one year

showed an increased risk of androgenic side effects and fatigue. On the other

hand, migraine was 16 times less frequent in users (OR 0.06 (0.018–0.21)

p<0.0001), but not other types of headache (Table 1). We conclude that Implanon has disadvantages of irregular bleeding and androgenic side effects, but has a significant improvement on migraines. 

Table 1.

Univariate analysis of variables linked to the use of etonogestrel

implants

Improved  Identical Worsened Chi2 or Fisher t statistics
Acne    11 78 24 2.5 (1.2-5.4) p=0.026
Libido   17 86 19
Mood swings   16 91 21
Quality of sleep    3 112 13 4.7 (1.3-16.9) p=0.018
Frequency of urinating   3 119 3
Mictalgia   1 95 2
Ease of defecation   4 113 3
Pleasure to go out    12 103 4 3.2 (1.0-10.3) p=0.07
Migraine    33 63 3 0.06 (0.02-0.2) p<0.0001
Headache (except migraine)   22 71 16
Weakness, fatigue    9 63 36 5.5 (2.5-12.1) p<0.0001
Dysmenorrhoea    43 45 24 0.4 (0.2-0.8) p=0.008
Pleasure in sports   8 96 10
Pleasure in work   8 100 11
Dyspareunia   7 72 14
Medication for vaginal yeast infection   16 47 8
Medication for vaginal bacterial infection    13 44 4 3.9 (1.2-12.6) p=0.03
Appetite    19 95 7 3.0 (1.2-7.5) p=0.02
Urge to eat chocolates, sweets   21 87 19
Greasy hair    5 77 28 7.2 (2.6-19.4) p<0.001
Dry skin    3 92 12 0.2 (0.06-0.8) p=0.03
Breast tenderness    10 73 27 3.2 (1.5-7.1) p=0.0035
Concentration difficulties    2 102 11 0.2 (0.4-0.8) p=0.019
Endurance*   11 85 21      

                     

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