The effects of oral contraceptives on mood and sexuality: A comparison of triphasic and combined preparations

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Abstract
Women starting on oral contraceptives were first assessed for premenstrual symptoms and then randomly assigned to either a combined pill (Microgynon, n = 18) or a triphasic pill (Logynon, n = 19). Each subject made daily ratings of mood, physical symptoms and sexual feelings for the first two pill cycles. Each pill cycle was divided into 5 phases (7, 5, 6, 5 and 5 days duration). Mean daily ratings for the 5 phases of the 2nd pill cycle were subjected to analysis of variance for repeated measures, with ‘emotional’ and ‘physical’ premenstrual scores from the pre-pill assessment and age as additional stratification factors. of women with high premenstrual mood change before starting the pill, those who took the triphasic pill showed significantly more lowering of mood (P < 0.05) and loss of sexual feelings (P < 0.05) than those taking the combined pill. These changes which were not necessarily of severe degree occurred early in the pill cycle. As numbers in this study were small, the findings require replication before their general relevance is accepted.