title: Functional ovarian cysts in relation to the use of monophasic and triphasic oral contraceptives.
abstract: This population-based case-control study assessed the effect of current use of monophasic or triphasic oral contraceptives (OCs) on the risk of functional ovarian cyst development. The cases were all 15-39-year-old enrollees in the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound who had either an inpatient primary diagnosis of functional ovarian cyst in 1988 or 1989 (N = 67) or an outpatient primary diagnosis of functional ovarian cyst from March 1988 through August 1989 at one of five Group Health Cooperative primary care clinics (N = 39). Controls were randomly selected enrollees matched to the cases for age, primary care clinic, and enrollment date (N = 255). Subjects with previous hysterectomy or oophorectomy were excluded from this analysis. Pharmacy and medical record review showed that 16% of cases and 19% of controls were currently using monophasic OCs, whereas 11% of cases and 9% of controls were using triphasic OCs. Compared with women not using hormonal contraception, the relative risks of a diagnosed functional ovarian cyst among women currently using OCs were 0.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.4-1.8) for users of monophasic OCs and 1.3 (95% CI 0.5-3.3) for users of triphasic OCs. In contrast to previous studies of monophasic OCs containing higher steroid dosages, the results of this study suggest that current use of low-dose monophasic OCs does not substantially decrease a woman's risk of functional ovarian cyst formation. In addition, our results do not support recent speculation that current use of triphasic OCs appreciably increases the risk of functional ovarian cysts.
authors.affiliation: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Daling
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McKnight
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stergachis
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003277:Contraceptives, Oral, Combined / Q000009:adverse effects; D003278:Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010048:Ovarian Cysts / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D003277:Contraceptives, Oral, Combined; D003278:Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal