Injectable contraceptive drugs Archives - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

Objective: to evaluate variations in body weight, arterial blood pressure, fasting glucose, HbA1C, insulin, total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides, Sgot, SGPT, GGT and bilirubin in women bearing a single subdermal Silastic implant containing 55 mg (+ 10%) of nomegestrol acetate during two years. Methods: eighteen healthy volunteers of reproductive age who desired to use anticonceptive drugs and who did not present contraindications to hormonal contraception participated in the study. All women were investigated before starting treatment and were followed-up for two years. At the end of the first year the capsules were inserted. Results: body weight increased from 54.9 + 1.5 kg at admission to 55.3 + 2.0 kg at 12 months of use (p<0.05) and from 56.0 + 2.7 kg at 24 months of use. There was a slight increase in arterial blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic, at month 12 (p<0.01). At month 24, the arterial blood pressure was not significantly different from the values at admission. All values were within the normal range. Insulin, HbA1C, LDL-C and GGT remained unchanged during the use of the implant. A significant decrease in total cholesterol (p<0.05) was observed in the third month and of HDL-C (p<0.01) in the sixth month. All lipoprotein alterations were inconsistent and values were within the normal range. Significant increases in fast glucose (p<0.05 and p<0.01) were observed in the third and sixth months, respectively. Significant SGOT decreases (p<0.05, p<0.01 and p<0.05) were observed in months 6, 18 and 24, respectively, and of SGPT (p<0.05) in month 18. Significant bilirubin increase (p<0.05) was observed only in the third month of implant use. All these variations remained within the normal range. Conclusions: these results show that, within the normal range, fasting glucose variations do not correlate with alterations in insulin levels. The slight serum lipoprotein, SGTO, SGPT and insulin alterations were transient. No clinical effects could be observed regarding lipoproteins, carbohydrate metabolism, insulin levels and liver function among the users during the two years.