ArticlePloS one2021
Oral contraceptive use is associated with smaller hypothalamic and pituitary gland volumes in healthy women: A structural MRI study.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 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
- Longitudinal MRI reveals adolescent pituitary growth patterns linked to puberty and environmental exposures.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Long-term Empagliflozin Use in Chronic Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuresis Due to Traumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.JCEM case reports · 2026Article
- Comparative advantage and efficacy of natural products for polycystic ovary syndrome.Journal of ovarian research · 2025Review
- Determining the normal range of the dimensions and volume of the pituitary gland of children using a 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol in Imam Hossein Hospital of Isfahan in 2021 to 2024.American journal of neurodegenerative disease · 2025Article
- Idiosyncrasy and generalizability of contraceptive- and hormone-related functional connectomes across the menstrual cycle.Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- The relationship between hormonal contraceptives, level of anxiety and emotional awareness: pilot project.Physiological research · 2024Article
- Sex differences in gray matter, white matter, and regional brain perfusion in young, healthy adults.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2024Article
- Hypothalamic MRI-derived microstructure is associated with neurocognitive aging in humans.Neurobiology of aging · 2024Article
- Progesterone receptor distribution in the human hypothalamus and its association with suicide.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2024Article
- Article
- MRI Volumetric Analysis of the Hypothalamus and Limbic System across the Pediatric Age Span.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Hypothalamic microstructure and function are related to body mass, but not mental or cognitive abilities across the adult lifespan.GeroScience · 2023Article
- Morphologic alterations of the fear circuitry: the role of sex hormones and oral contraceptives.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Ovarian steroid hormones: A long overlooked but critical contributor to brain aging and Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Review
- Heavy menstrual bleeding due to primary myelofibrosis in a woman: a case report.American journal of translational research · 2021Article
- Changes to hypothalamic volume and associated subunits during gender-affirming hormone therapy.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPNArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The effects of hormonal contraceptives on structural features of the hypothalamus and pituitary are incompletely understood. One prior study reported microstructural changes in the hypothalamus with oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use. However, effects on hypothalamic volume have not been reported. One prior study reported volumetric changes in the pituitary. However, this study was limited by including participants evaluated for neurological symptoms. We sought to determine if OCP use is associated with alteration of hypothalamic or pituitary volume. High-resolution 3T MRI was performed for a prospective cohort of 50 healthy women from 2016 to 2018, which comprised 21 OCP users (age, 19-29) and 29 naturally cycling women (age, 18-36). Participants were excluded if they were pregnant or had significant medical conditions including neurological, psychiatric, and endocrine disorders. After confirming reliability of the image analysis techniques, 5 raters independently performed manual segmentation of the hypothalamus and semi-automated intensity threshold-based segmentation of the pituitary using ITK-SNAP. Total intracranial volume was estimated using FreeSurfer. A general linear model tested the association of OCP use with hypothalamic and pituitary volumes. Hypothalamic (B = -81.2 ± 24.9, p = 0.002) and pituitary (B = -81.2 ± 38.7, p = 0.04) volumes in OCP users were smaller than in naturally cycling women. These findings may be related to interference with known trophic effects of sex hormones and suggest a structural correlate of central OCP effects.
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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.