Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.ROR
Does use of commonly used over-the-counter (OTC) pain medication affect reproductive hormones and ovulatory function in premenopausal women?
Summary Answer
Few associations were found between analgesic medication use and reproductive hormones, but use during the follicular phase was associated with decreased odds of sporadic anovulation after adjusting for potential confounders.
What Is Known Already
Analgesic medications are the most commonly used OTC drugs among women, but their potential effects on reproductive function are unclear.
Study Design, Size, Duration
The BioCycle Study was a prospective, observational cohort study (2005-2007) which followed 259 women for one (n = 9) or two (n = 250) menstrual cycles. PARTICIPANTS, SETTING,
Methods
Two hundred and fifty-nine healthy, premenopausal women not using hormonal contraception and living in western New York state. Study visits took place at the University at Buffalo.
Main Results and the Role of Chance: During study participation, 68% (n = 175) of women indicated OTC analgesic use. Among users, 45% used ibuprofen, 33% acetaminophen, 10% aspirin and 10% naproxen. Analgesic use during the follicular phase was associated with decreased odds of sporadic anovulation after adjusting for age, race, body mass index, perceived stress level and alcohol consumption (OR 0.36 [0.17, 0.75]). Results remained unchanged after controlling for potential confounding by indication by adjusting for 'healthy' cycle indicators such as amount of blood loss and menstrual pain during the preceding menstruation. Moreover, luteal progesterone was higher (% difference = 14.0, -1.6-32.1, P = 0.08 adjusted) in cycles with follicular phase analgesic use, but no associations were observed with estradiol, LH or FSH.
Limitations, Reasons for Caution
Self-report daily diaries are not validated measures of medication usage, which could lead to some classification error of medication use. We were also limited in our evaluation of aspirin and naproxen which were used by few women.
Wider Implications of the Findings
The observed associations between follicular phase analgesic use and higher progesterone and a lower probability of sporadic anovulation indicate that OTC pain medication use is likely not harmful to reproduction function, and certain medications possibly improve ovulatory function.
Study Funding/Competing Interests
This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (contract # HHSN275200403394C). The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
PMID 25954035 25954035 DOI 10.1093/humrep/dev099 10.1093/humrep/dev099 Matyas et al. 2015, Matyas 2015
Cite this article
Matyas, R. A., Mumford, S. L., Schliep, K. C., Ahrens, K. A., Sjaarda, L. A., Perkins, N. J., Filiberto, A. C., Mattison, D., Zarek, S. M., Wactawski-Wende, J., & Schisterman, E. F. (2015). Effects of over-the-counter analgesic use on reproductive hormones and ovulation in healthy, premenopausal women. Human reproduction (Oxford, England), 30(7), 1714-1723. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dev099
Matyas RA, Mumford SL, Schliep KC, Ahrens KA, Sjaarda LA, Perkins NJ, et al. Effects of over-the-counter analgesic use on reproductive hormones and ovulation in healthy, premenopausal women. Hum Reprod. 2015;30(7):1714-1723. doi:10.1093/humrep/dev099
Matyas, R. A., et al. "Effects of over-the-counter analgesic use on reproductive hormones and ovulation in healthy, premenopausal women." Human reproduction (Oxford, England), vol. 30, no. 7, 2015, pp. 1714-1723.
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