Progestogen-only contraceptives during lactation: II. Infant development
Health Organization Task Force for Epidemiological Research on Reproductive Health; Special Programme of Research.; World; Development; Research Training in Human Reproduction
Contraception Stoneham 50(1): 55-68
1994
DOI: 10.1016/0010-7824(94)90080-9Document Number: 287748
The results of a study into the development of infants whose mothers used progestogen-only contraceptives during lactation are reported. 2466 mother-infant pairs in 7 centres in Egypt, Thailand, Kenya, Chile and Hungary were studied. Women were admitted to the study at 6 weeks post partum and monthly follow-up checks were carried out on development of infants until the end of the 1st post-partum year. At each visit, the infant examination included a set of developmental tests covering the following areas: gross motor, vision and fine motor, hearing, language and concept development, and self-help and social development skills. Comparisons between groups where women were using progestogen-only contraception and those where women were using non-hormonal methods were carried out within centres using life-table methods and Cox-model analysis with the time taken first to pass the test used as the criterion. Altogether, 247 comparisons were made between study groups. 32 (13%) of these comparisons showed statistically significant differences: 20 differences showed that infants in the progestogen-only group passed the tests at an earlier age than those in the non-hormonal groups and 12 showed the progestogen-only infants passing the tests at a later age. No consistent trends were observed across the centres and it was concluded therefore that, in this study, the use of progestogen-only contraceptives during lactation did not adversely affect infant development.
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