Abstract
Related to concerns about the role of obesity in the efficacy of contraceptive drugs,
a review of the literature was carried out in regard to the pharmacokinetics of ethinyl
estradiol and various progestins given by various routes of administration. Most studies
show that obese women exhibit modestly lower plasma concentrations of these drugs
(circa 30%) when given the same doses as normal-weight women. While the mechanism
is uncertain, precedence in the literature suggests that this is due to body weight-related
differences in metabolism rates. Confusing in some of the literature is that a few
studies have reported erroneously calculated pharmacokinetic parameters after multiple
dosing of oral contraceptives. A demonstration of appropriate pharmacokinetic methodology
is provided.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 16, 2016
Accepted:
August 11,
2016
Received in revised form:
August 10,
2016
Received:
May 13,
2016
Footnotes
☆Conflicts of interest: The author has recently served as a consultant or scientific expert for CSL Behring, Hoffman LaRoche, Asklepion Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cerebral Therapeutics, Retrophin Inc. and UCB Biopharma.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
