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Evidence summaries

Combined Oral Contraceptives for Premenstrual Syndrome

Combined oral contraceptives might possibly be effective for premenstrual syndrome. Level of evidence: "D"

The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality, indirectness of the evidense, and imprecise results.

Summary

A network meta-analysis 1 included 9 studies with a total of 1205 subjects. Combined oral contraceptives were more efficacious than placebo in treating overall premenstrual symptomatology (standardized mean difference, 0.41; 95% credible interval, 0.17 to 0.67), but not premenstrual depressive symptoms specifically (standardized mean difference, 0.22; 95% credible interval, -0.06 to 0.47). There was no evidence for one combined oral contraceptive being more efficacious than any other.

Clinical comments

Note

Date of latest search: 26 August 2021

References

  • de Wit AE, de Vries YA, de Boer MK et al. Efficacy of combined oral contraceptives for depressive symptoms and overall symptomatology in premenstrual syndrome: pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomized trials. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2021. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords