Quality of sexual life of women on oral contraceptive continued-regimen: pilot study

Abstract

Introduction: To date, women may use flexible oral contraceptive (OC) regimens.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of sexual life of healthy women on continued-regimen OCs.

Methods: Fifty women (age range 18-38) were enrolled. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaires were used to investigate, respectively, sexual behavior and the quality of life (QoL) of women on OC for 72 days with a 4-day hormone-free interval, for two cycles. Both the FSFI and the SF-36 were administered before starting OC intake, at the first (72-82 days) and the second (144-154 days) follow-ups.

Main outcome measure: The main outcomes are the FSFI and the SF-36 questionnaires.

Results: The FSFI score obtained at the first follow-up detected a worsening with respect to baseline score (P < 0.05). The score obtained at the second follow-up detected an improvement with respect to both the baseline and the first follow-up total scores (P < 0.05). QoL improved at the first follow-up only as regards body pain (P < 0.05), and at the second follow-up as regards: physical role, body pain, general health, vitality, and social function (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The use of continued-regimen OCs is able to improve the sexual behavior and the QoL of women.