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Abstract
Growth, development and health of infants whose mothers used progestogen-only contraceptives
during lactation were examined in a prospective, non-randomized study that was carried
out in seven centres in five countries (Egypt, Thailand, Kenya, Chile and Hungary).
The results on development are reported here. Breastfeeding women requesting effective
contraception were admitted to the study at six weeks postpartum. Infants of acceptors
of progestogen-only methods (pill, DMPA, NET-EN or NORPLANT® implants) and non-hormonal methods (IUD, barrier methods or sterilization) formed
the study groups. The follow-up was at monthly intervals until the end of the first
postpartum year. At each visit, the infant examination included, among other things,
a set of developmental tests covering the following areas: gross motor, vision and
fine motor, hearing, language and concept development, and self help and social skills.
Participating in the study were 2466 mother-infant pairs. The comparisons between
the study groups were carried out within centres using life table methods and Cox-model
analysis having the time to first passing the test as the criterion. There were altogether
247 comparisons between the study groups. Thirty-two (13%) of these comparisons showed
statistically significant differences: 20 differences showed that the infants in the
progestogen-only groups passed the tests at an earlier age and 12 at a later age than
infants in the non-hormonal groups. Since no consistent trends were observed across
the centres, we conclude that in this study the progestogen-only contraceptives used
during lactation did not adversely affect infant development.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 1,
1994
Received:
October 27,
1993
Identification
Copyright
© 1994 Published by Elsevier Inc.
