Cognitive effects of hormone-based contraception in young healthy women

Abstract

Hormonal contraception is a very popular method to avoid pregnancy, but there are little data about the effects of these medications on cognitive functions in women using it. Our study was aimed to analyse how the use of oral contraceptives might impact cognitive functioning. Women without (NC, n = 15) and on hormonal contraceptives (OC, n = 10) were tested during four phases of menstrual cycle. Simple reaction time, visual short-term memory and sustained attention were measured. Significant between-group (NC vs. OC) differences in favour of the OC group in reaction time to the onset of visual stimulus and in short-term memory task were found. These differences were most pronounced during luteal (mid and late luteal for reaction time and mid luteal for short-term memory) phases of the menstrual cycle. OC women outperformed the NC group in almost all other tasks and during other phases, although differences were less obvious and non-significant. No relationship between estradiol level and cognitive performance for nonusers, as well as no significant changes in cognition across the cycle for either group were found. Keywords: hormonal contraception, cognitive functions, menstrual cycle, reaction time, short-term memory, sustained attention