ArticleScientific reports2019
Previous contraceptive treatment relates to grey matter volumes in the hippocampus and basal ganglia.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hormonal contraceptives and the brain: A systematic review on 60 years of neuroimaging, EEG, and biochemical studies in humans and animals.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2023Pooled it
- Lifespan exposure to hormone therapies and structural brain morphometry in older women.NeuroImage · 2026Trial
- Effects of oral contraceptive pills on mood and magnetic resonance imaging measures of prefrontal cortical thickness.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Hormonal Contraception and the Brain: Bridging a Gap in Steroid Neuropharmacology.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026Article
- Linking brain structure to stress reactivity: cingulate surface area predicts acute cortisol responses.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Social stress, cortisol awakening response and sex: association with hippocampus and amygdala volume.Biology of sex differences · 2025Article
- Oral contraceptive treatment improves cognitive performance in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) patients.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Article
- Effect of combined oral contraceptive use on verbal memory function in healthy women.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Article
- Hormonal Contraceptive Use and Affective Disorders: An Updated Review.Open access journal of contraception · 2025Review
- Beyond Birth Control: The Neuroscience of Hormonal Contraceptives.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Review
- Longitudinal associations of reproductive factors and exogeneous estrogens with neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- The Association between Dietary Protein Intake and Sources and the Rate of Longitudinal Changes in Brain Structure.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Women's health, hormonal balance, and personal autonomy.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Review
- Editorial: Effects of hormonal contraceptives on the brain.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Hormonal contraceptive exposure relates to changes in resting state functional connectivity of anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Brain volumetric changes in menopausal women and its association with cognitive function: a structured review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Review
- Morphologic alterations of the fear circuitry: the role of sex hormones and oral contraceptives.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Endogenous and Exogenous Estrogen Exposures: How Women's Reproductive Health Can Drive Brain Aging and Inform Alzheimer's Prevention.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Review
- Duration of oral contraceptive use relates to cognitive performance and brain activation in current and past users.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- A Year Through the COVID-19 Pandemic: Deleterious Impact of Hormonal Contraception on Psychological Distress in Women.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Oral contraceptive (OC) effects on the brain have gained increasing interest, but are highly controversial. Previous studies suggest that OC users have larger hippocampi, parahippocampi, fusiform gyri and Cerebelli. Preliminary evidence from one of those studies even suggests an effect of previous contraceptive use on the hippocampi of women who are not current users of OCs. Furthermore, more recent studies postulate an involvement of previous OC treatment in later development of mood disorders. To address the question whether previous OC treatment affects women's brain structure later in life, high resolution structural images were obtained from 131 naturally cycling women. Among them, 52 women had never used OC before, 52 had previously used one OC for a continuous time period and 27 had previously used multiple contraceptives. The groups did not differ in gray matter volumes. Since endogenous sex hormones modulate gray matter volumes of the hippocampus and basal ganglia along the menstrual cycle, we hypothesize effects of OC use on these areas. Specifically, we hypothesize that a longer duration of previous OC treatment is related to larger hippocampi and larger basal ganglia. Indeed we found the duration of previous OC use to be positively correlated to hippocampal and basal ganglia volumes bilaterally. For the hippocampus, but not for the basal ganglia, this association disappeared after controlling for the time since discontinuation. These results suggest that for the hippocampus, but not for the basal ganglia, effects of previous contraceptive treatment are reversed after a time period comparable to treatment duration. These data question the immediate reversibility of OC effects on brain structure. Accordingly, some changes in the brain due to long-term contraceptive use, while subtle, may be long-lasting.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.