Oral Contraceptives and Economic Behaviour

Karolinska University Hospital400 enrolled

Overview

The investigators aim is to evaluate effects of combined oral contraceptives (OC) on mood, sexuality and economic behaviour in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. 400 healthy women will be randomized to OC or placebo for a period of three months. Before and at the end of treatment, mood and sexuality will be assessed by validated instruments. At the end of treatment, each woman will participate in behavioral experiments testing self-confidence, risk taking and altruism. The current project could fill the gap of ignorance about causal effects of OCs on mood, sexuality and behavior. The results might improve current practice as regards information about OCs, choice of hormonal contraceptive, regimen and duration of use. As a consequence, this could lead to reduced discontinuation rate, fewer unintended pregnancies and abortions. The project will contribute to an overall improvement in women's reproductive health.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Enrollment

400

Conditions

Female Contraception

Interventions

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

economic behaviour

A modified dictator game will be used to measure altruistic behavior (Eckel and Grossman 1996). Each subject decides how to allocate money between herself and a charitable organisation. The size of the donation is our measure of altruism. Risk aversion is measured by a test where the subject makes several choices between a certain payoff and a 50/50 gamble to win a certain amount of money (Dohmen et al 2005). Competitiveness is defined as the extent to which women choose to compete in a task which involves solving as many simple mathematical exercises as possible during three minutes (Niederle and Vesterlund 2007).

Time frame: 11 weeks

sexual behaviour

Sexual function will be assessed by the validated instruments Sexual Activity Log (SAL) (Derogatis et al 2004), Profile of Female Sexual Function (PFSF) (McHorney et al 2004, Derogatis et al 2004) and Personal Distress Scale (PDS, past 30 days) (Derogatis et al 2004, Leiblum et al 2006). The women are answering the questionnaires, which are all computerized, at the Women´s Health Research Unit.

Time frame: baseline to 11 weeks

mood

Mood and health-related quality of life will be assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) test (Lightfoot and Oliver 1985) and the Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWB) (Dupuy 1984, Wiklund et al 1992).