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Young Military Women Unaware of Amenorrhoeic Effects of Oral Contraceptives: Presented at AAFP
By Alison Palkhivala
Special to DG News
SAN DIEGO, CA -- October 23, 2002 -- More than half of women in the military are unaware that oral contraceptives can be used to temporarily induce amenorrhoea, according to findings presented here last week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP).
Once they are informed about this option, however, most say they would be interested in using it during outdoor activities and faraway postings.
According to Nicole Powell-Dunford, MD, from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, DC, United States, "oral contraceptives have been used continuously for decades to induce amenorrhoea. The [United States Food and Drug Administration] has, in fact, approved this practice for up to nine months at a time in the treatment of endometriosis. Furthermore, this method has been demonstrated to be efficacious in multiple studies [for the treatment of other conditions, such as] dysmenorrhoea."
Dr. Powell-Dunford and colleagues had 143 female volunteers, aged 18 to 45 years, fill out questionnaires about their attitudes towards use of oral contraceptive pills for the purposes of inducing amenorrhoea. All the respondents were military personnel who did not have medical prescribing authority.
Most of the respondents were Caucasian or African American, aged 18 to 30 years and had at least some college education. Overall, 86 percent reported interest in being amenorrhoeic during outdoor activities, and 83 percent reported interest in it during faraway travel.
However, 54 percent of respondents were unaware that oral contraceptives could be used in this manner. Only seven percent had actually used oral contraceptives to induce amenorrhoea. Forty-nine percent of respondents said they would use oral contraceptives to induce amenorrhoea if made available along with education.
"The vast majority of women preferred to be amenorrheic during … field training exercises or for deployments," said Dr. Powell-Dunford. "Despite this, only about half of the whole population had heard, in any shape or form, that you can use oral contraceptives continuously to induce amenorrhoea, this despite a pretty well-educated population. Even more remarkable, about half the population said they would absolutely use this if it were made available to them."
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