Clinical Indications
Extended or continuous use of COCPs has been used for many years to treat endometriosis, dysmenorrhea, and menstruation-associated symptoms. Some studies have suggested that women who experience premenstrual-type symptoms during the placebo (hormone-free) week of traditionally packaged COCPs may experience significantly fewer symptoms when placed on extended cycle COCP regimens.
More recently, personal preference to avoid menstruation has also become a common reason for use. Personal preference is the most common reason extended cycle or continuous use COCPs are prescribed to adolescents. The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research holds that this use of COCPs does not have sufficient safety studies to justify promotion as a lifestyle choice (as opposed to medical indications), and criticizes what it perceives as negative portrayals of normal menstrual cycles in promotional literature for extended and continuous COCP use.
Women's satisfaction with their contraception, compliance in taking the pills on time, and discontinuation rates are not significantly different between traditional and extended cycle regimens.
Read more about this topic: Extended Cycle Combined Hormonal Contraceptive
Famous quotes containing the word indications:
“The indications are that swearing preceded the development of cursing. That is, expletives, maledictions, exclamations, and imprecations of the immediately explosive or vituperative kind preceded the speechmaking and later rituals involved in the deliberate apportioning of the fate of an enemy. Swearing of the former variety is from the lips only, but the latter is from the heart. Damn it! is not that same as Damn you!”
—Ashley Montagu (b. 1905)