Contraceptive linked to higher STD risk
 

Use of the contraceptive Depo Provera appears to triple women's risk of infection with chlamydia and gonorrhea, a study reports Monday.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...std-risk_x.htm

Morrison says one or two more high-quality studies are needed to confirm his findings. But, he says, the study does highlight the need for hormonal contraceptive users to also use condoms if they aren't in mutually monogamous relationships. Hormonal contraceptives alone don't protect against STDs, and, as this study suggests, Depo Provera might raise the risk of infection.

DUH!

The risk is going up because women aren't using condoms, not because of the hormones. I never heard anything so ridiculous.

Wow.

I always wondered why birth control stuff had warnings on it that it didn't prevent STD's.

I guess people really are that dumb.

From the article:

"This holds true even when behavior and other factors are taken into account, the research team at the National Institutes of Health (news - web sites), University of North Carolina and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found.


More study is needed, but it is possible that Depo-Provera itself causes a susceptibility to STDs, said Charles Morrison of Family Health International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, who led the study.


"We did adjust for differences in condom use, differences in multiple partners, differences in the number of sexual coital acts," Morrison said in a telephone interview. " (Emphasis added.)

This was only a couple of paragraphs down, so it was easy to find. They have reason to think it's not so ridiculous.

I'd like to see a confirmatory study before anyone takes this as gospel. But the study wasn't done by some hick from the sticks: JHU usually has their act together on evaluating their data.

--add

I attended an STD conference at which doctors and researchers discussed the correlation between hormone levels in women and higher levels of STDs. The majority of women newly diagnosed with chlamydia are between 15 and 22. The number of new cases of chlamydia in women over 35 is very small. The doctors think that hormone levels are a possible factor, but they needed to do more research.

It is possible the Depo can reduce immunity in those that use it.

How hormones do that is under a lot of research.

Think Lyle Alzado (sp?) and his dying from cancer because he injected himself with anabolic steroids (hormones)...

Back then it wasn't understood what goes on. But now, with genomics, proteomics and metabolomics along with bioinformatics, it is possible to isolate responsive genes to hormones in the immunological pathways left once undiscovered...

So, I pretty much buy that story that Depo can decrease immunity...

Wouldn't it have to make you more suceptible to ALL diseases, then? Because it'd be an immune system problem?

A girl I know told me like a month ago she's been on the shot for about four years and LOVES it. Which was interesting because I've heard nothing but bad things about the shot -- weight gain, periods that last 3 months, etc. So I really couldn't figure out why anyone would take it. She was just like, hey, I can't remember to take the pill every day, but I CAN remember to go to the doctor's for a shot every 3 months.

Fair enough.

I am not sure, myself, EXACTLY what DEPO is... I will have to do a literature search to give you the references in PubMed...

But, I gather that Depo is liken to be a "specific" hormonal "replacement" drug that only interacts with specific receptors and target molecules within specific tissues--i.e. the pituitary and the ovaries...

So namely, the downstream signal transducers that get activated once depo binds its receptor class--more than likely the estrogen receptor family, somehow signals in the cells that causes other cells cells that are part of the "immune survellience" system to react. And these immune surveillance cells may be susceptible to "pre-existing" conditions--in the case of some chlamydia strains that are undetectible at low colony counts or in an new infection--like gonorrhea... It is unclear to me whether STI's are increased infection rates or the infections just became opportunistic...

However, I could be wrong. But the way I understand it, it is possible that there is some "mis-signalling" that is going on with these suceptible people that are out there--something to do with single nucleotide polymorphisms...