(no subject)

[geminigirl]

Morning Linkage:

1. Via mactavish: joedecker had a really interesting conversation with the Red Cross over blood donation exclusion guidelines:

http://www.polychromatic.com/redcross/

2. Mostly for melebeth, since we were talking about this sort of thing last night...

Oral Contraceptives Do Not Appear to Alter Premenstrual Mood


Reuters Health Information 2004. © 2004 Reuters Ltd.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.



NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 22 - The results of a study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggest that oral contraceptive pill use does not influence premenstrual mood in most women.

Dr. Hadine Joffe, of Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, and colleagues examined risk factors for the deterioration and improvement of premenstrual mood disturbance with oral contraceptive use. They used logistic regression in a nested case-control study within a community-based cohort of 976 premenopausal women to evaluate predictors of the effects of oral contraceptive use on premenstrual mood.

Of the 658 women using an oral contraceptive, premenstrual mood deterioration was reported by 107 (16.3%). Eighty-one women (12.3%) reported premenstrual mood improvement with oral contraceptive use. Oral contraceptive use did not influence premenstrual mood in 470 (71.4%) of the women.

In adjusted models, previous depression was significantly predictive of mood deterioration (odds ratio, 2.0). Conversely, early-onset premenstrual mood disturbance and dysmenorrhea were significantly predictive of oral contraceptive-related mood improvement (odds ratio, 3.1 and 2.3, respectively).

"Despite the limitations that are inherent in retrospective reporting of premenstrual mood symptoms, our results suggest that gynecologists can use information about previous depression, premenstrual mood disturbance, and dysmenorrheal to inform clinical decisions about the potential beneficial and deleterious impact of oral contraceptive pills on premenstrual mood," Dr. Joffe and colleagues conclude.

Am J Obstet Gynecol 2003;189:1523-1530.

Comments

[melebeth]

Thanks :) Let me know if you want a copy of the deoderant article. I'll send it to you via e-mail if you do. It's pretty horrid, but it's flaws are subtle and probably will sneak by most people.

[geminigirl]

You're welcome. It's just cause I wuv you.

I'd be interested in reading the deodorant article...but the thing that disturbs me about it, is that I've been hearing the same thing for years and years and years. Is this any more conclusive than the stuff we've seen before?

[melebeth]

It _reads_ as more conclusive, but the methodology is crap so I don't think the research is, in reality, more conclusive.

Some examples of it's crapazoid nature...
1) less than 30% response rate
2) Huge survival bias. They recruited all surviving cancer patients from the last 7 years. Maybe people who shave and use deoderant _and live longer_ with cancer when they get diagnosed earlier.
3) Barely understandable questions on the survey
4) No controls for SES/education - which could affect screening habits
5) A truly bizarre chart of body hair frequency and cancer rate by ethnic group which is over interpreted as to it's significance because the ethnic groups also have many other factors which affect their cancer incidence.

No wonder she couldn't get this published in a decent journal!!!! I'll forward the paper by e-mail.

[geminigirl]

Yahoo can't scan it before I download it right now, so I haven't been able to read it yet.

[emmett-the-sane.livejournal.com]

Don't have time to read more than the gist right now... but that's interesting. Because my first gf was on the pill, and she loved it BECAUSE it dropped her flow down to nil.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

The pill makes me very, very sick. I've known people who have profound mood effects from it. But I know lots of women who like it because of how it can affect the period, and some women who skip the week of fake pills and start a fresh pack just to avoid menstruating.

[emmett-the-sane.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's definitely not a one-size-fits-all option... I am glad it's an option, along with the chemical options for men which are just starting/about to come out.

Given that I'm not broken anymore, of course, it's no nevermind to me anyways. *grin*