NEW YORK - A contraceptive pill that has the potential to help ease the burden of menstruation on women is safe as well as effective, according to new research. The pill, which is a combination of levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol (LNG/EE), can eliminate periods in most women, the study appearing in the journal Contraception says.
Around 2134 healthy women aged between 18 to 49 years participated in the study. They were given the LNG/EE combination daily for 1 year.
Researchers found that 59 percent of the women reported no menstruation in the last month of the study. Additionally 79 percent women said that they did not have any bleeding. However 19 of the women reported a positive pregnancy during the study.
Researchers said that human error was responsible in 15 of these cases. These women had simply missed taking their daily pills or had failed to adhere to the prescribed routine.
"The continuous LNG/EE oral contraceptive offers women a contraceptive option with several noncontraceptive benefits, one of which is a reduction in the number of uterine bleeding days per year," the researchers said.
As the study progressed, women also reported less number of bleeding and spotting days when on the pill. Researchers said that the pill was safely tolerated and had identical side effects as seen in normal oral contraceptives.
Lead researcher David Archer, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said that the pill offered another choice to women. "But it will always be predicated on what women want and what they are prepared to tolerate," he added.
The pill called Lybrel is manufactured by Wyeth and is expected to be generally available in the US and the UK next year.
