MedWire News: Normal and overweight, but not obese, women show an increase in body mass index (BMI) associated with depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) duration of use, show Brazilian researchers.
“Weight increase in DMPA users could be associated with metabolic alterations related to duration of use in normal and overweight women and to alterations already present in obese women,” comment Arlete Maria dos Santos Fernandes (University of Campinas, Sao Paulo) and colleagues.
The team obtained data from 758 women who had used DMPA or the copper intrauterine device (TCu380A) for at least 3 years during 1991-2000.
Compared with baseline values, BMI increased progressively with duration of contraception use in normal weight (BMI <25 kg/m2), overweight (BMI 25-29.9 kg/m2), and obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) women.
Normal and overweight DMPA users gained significantly more weight at 3 years than TCu380A users, at mean increases of 4.5 and 3.4 kg versus 1.2 and 0.2 kg, respectively.
However, weight gain among obese women was similar between those who took DMPA and those who used the TCu380A at 3 years (1.9 versus 0.6 kg).
Furthermore, BMI increases were higher with longer duration of DMPA use compared with TCu380A use among normal and overweight women. However, among obese women BMI trends over time were similar in both groups.
“Prospective studies are required to determine triggering factors,” concludes the team.
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