A large number of women around the world use hormonal contraceptives. However, recent studies have only focused on the fecundability of oral contraceptives. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between the use of pregravid and the incidence of fecundability.
This prospective cohort study included a total of 17,954 women who had tried to conceive for up to 6 menstrual cycles. The participants reported their contraceptive histories and personal, lifestyle, and medical characteristics. The primary outcome of the study was the incidence of pregnancy determined by self-answered, bimonthly follow-up questionnaires.
The findings suggested that women who had recently stopped using any type of contraceptives reported short-term delays in return of pregnancy when compared with women who used barrier contraceptives. The findings further suggested that the use of injectable contraceptives was associated with greater reductions in fecundability compared with barrier methods. Collective analysis of multiple contraceptive methods showed that the longest delay in fecundability was associated with injectable contraceptives, followed by patch contraceptives, ring contraceptives, and hormonal contraceptive implants. However, the lifetime length of use of hormonal contraceptives had no relation with fecundability.
The research concluded that hormonal contraceptives were associated with a delayed return of fertility, with the delay being the longest with injectable contraceptives.
Ref: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3966
