Abstract

PIP: Medroxyprogesterone acetate injections (Depo-Provera) were given to 625 women at 3 monthly intervals involving 693 episodes. Ages at entry to the study ranged from 15-51 years with the majority in their 20s and a mean age of 30. Length of exposure ranged from 3-168 cycles. 4 women have received more than 160 continuous cycles of DMPA. Of the medication-induced reasons for discontinuing DMPA, bleeding was the most common with an incidence of 10.5% followed by depression (1.4%), weight gain (1.4%), and loss of libido (1.6%). No patient ceased treatment because of headaches, recurrent vaginal infections, mastalgia, nausea, chloasma, hypertension, or other vascular illnesses. The 59 women who move away or were lost to follow-up accounted for 405 cycles of treatment. The solitary unplanned pregnancy occurred in a 28-year-old obese woman who had previously had other method failures, once with an IUD and once with oral contraceptives (OCs). No association was found with carcinoma of the cervix. Of 80 women ceasing treatment to become pregnant, only 1 women has required the assistance of chlomiphene and conceived 2 years after ceasing DMPA. Amenorrhea was the side effect most appreciated by the women using DMPA. Due to the problem of irregular bleeding, it is wise to warn prospective patients about the lack of bleeding control that they have 1 chance in 10 of having relative menorrhagia. Women using OC subject to frequent vaginal moniliasis had a marked reduction in episodes after switching to DMPA. Chloasma, 1 of the minor stigmas of OC, was not induced in any of the patients. DMPA is a safe and efficient reversible method of contraception for women who have various gynecological conditions or problems associated with using OCs.