ReviewClinical drug investigation2020
Hormonal Contraception and Depression: Updated Evidence and Implications in Clinical Practice.
Review in Clinical drug investigation, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Qualitative exploration of using hormonal contraception on mental health and wellbeing: Diverse experiences and a call for more support.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Poor mood after oral contraceptive use is associated with increased vulnerability to peripartum depression, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and higher genetic risk for depression.Archives of women's mental health · 2026Article
- Menopausal hormone therapy and risk of neuropsychiatric disease: a drug target Mendelian randomisation study.npj women's health · 2026Article
- Women with premenstrual syndrome exhibit high interoceptive accuracy, but low awareness, with parasympathetic rebound responses from stress.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Hormonal Contraceptive Use and Affective Disorders: An Updated Review.Open access journal of contraception · 2025Review
- Women with premenstrual syndrome exhibit bodily information processing and a moderate deficit in emotional interference functioning.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Depression and Its Associated Factor Among Women Using Hormonal Contraceptives: A Cross-Sectional Study in Jimma Town Public Health Facilities, Southwest Ethiopia, 2022.Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- The long road of drug development for endometriosis - Pains, gains, and hopes.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2024Review
- The link between daily affective complexity and anxiety is altered by oral contraceptive use.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2024Article
- Neuroendocrine mechanisms in the links between early life stress, affect, and youth substance use: A conceptual model for the study of sex and gender differences.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2024Review
- Psychological side effects of hormonal contraception: a disconnect between patients and providers.Contraception and reproductive medicine · 2023Article
- Zuranolone - synthetic neurosteroid in treatment of mental disorders: narrative review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Women's health, hormonal balance, and personal autonomy.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Review
- Depressive Symptoms and Their Associated Factors in Vocational-Technical School Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Hormonal Contraception Use and Depression Among Women in Saudi Arabia.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2022Article
- Observational
- An Update on Contraception in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.Endocrinology and metabolism (Seoul, Korea) · 2021Article
- Adolescent Development of Biological Rhythms in Female Rats: Estradiol Dependence and Effects of Combined Contraceptives.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hormonal contraceptives are used worldwide by more than 100 million women. Some studies have been published about the possible appearance of depressive symptoms when using hormonal contraceptives, but this link is still a matter of debate. The purpose of this review is to provide an update of the literature on this issue, and to investigate the possible explanations of this problem based on animal and human studies. The main pathway responsible for menstrual cycle-related mood changes is the γ-aminobutyric acid pathway, which is sensitive to changes in the levels of progesterone and of its metabolites, the neurosteroids. In particular, allopregnanolone is a potentiating neurosteroid with anxiolytic and anti-convulsant effects whose levels change during a normal menstrual cycle together with progesterone levels. Progestins have different effects on allopregnanolone, mainly owing to their diverse androgenicity. Moreover, they might affect brain structure and function, even though the meaning of these changes has yet to be clarified. It is important to define the groups of women in which negative mood disorders are more likely to occur. Adolescence is a critical period and this age-specific vulnerability is complex and likely bidirectional. Moreover, women with a history of mood affective disorders or premenstrual dysphoric syndrome are at a higher risk when taking contraceptives. In this review, we aim to provide clinicians with advice on how to approach these difficult situations.
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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.