A new research presented at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, came up with a significant finding. The type of estrogen in hormonal birth control may significantly influence anxiety-like behaviours. Researchers found that synthetic estrogen in birth control led to increased anxiety behaviours in female rats compared to natural estrogen.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 12.6% of women in the United States aged 15 to 49 used oral contraception between 2015 and 2017. Knowing that oral contraceptives can have behavioural side effects, which could be one of the reasons why women stop using them, Dr Alesia Prakapenka, an assistant professor at Midwestern University, and her colleagues wanted to see if the type of estrogen used in hormonal birth control could significantly influence anxiety-like behaviours.
Dr Prakapenka shared that “It is plausible that estrogen type is a key player in mood or cognitive related side effects of hormone-based contraceptive use.” Using a rat model, researchers compared the effects of synthetic ethinyl estradiol and natural estradiol valerate on anxiety and cognition. The 36 young female rats involved in this study were randomly assigned to one of three groups—
- Synthetic ethinyl estradiol plus dienogest
- Natural estradiol valerate plus dienogest
- Vehicle control treatment
To analyze anxiety-like behaviour, the rats were evaluated to assess spatial memory and the elevated plus maze, after four weeks of treatment through a using a delayed spontaneous alternation task. Female rats treated with synthetic estrogen showed much greater levels of anxiety than those given natural estrogen or vehicle control. However, spatial memory was similar in all three groups. A noteworthy finding was that rats treated with synthetic oestrogen used more habitual turn strategies in the spatial memory task, which is a behaviour associated with anxiety.
Read More: Anxiety: Symptoms, Causes and Intervention
The discovery provides new possibilities for clinical research and decision-making in hormonal contraception. Estrogen type may become a significant consideration in birth control prescriptions, perhaps lowering the prevalence of anxiety-related adverse effects. Hegwood feels that this identification might be used as a therapeutic tool to control behavioural adverse effects in females.
As a way forward, this study is a big step towards more customised and effective contraception options. Healthcare providers must consider the estrogen type when prescribing hormonal contraceptives, which can result in better treatment, and improve the quality of life for many women.
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