Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Nearly all females use some form of contraception in their lifetimes, making hormonal contraception (HC) a prevalent hormonal landscape. The purpose of this survey was to characterize the prevalence of HC use and the associated perceived side effects in active U.S. adult females. STUDY DESIGN: Six hundred seventy active adult females between ages 18 and 52 years living in the United States (age = 30.7 ± 8.1 years; body mass index = 25.4 ± 5.5 kg/m(2)) completed an online questionnaire based on previously validated assessments to characterize menstrual cycle, prevalence of HC use, perceived side effects, and physical activity. Physical activity was reported in minutes over 7 days and converted into metabolic equivalent-minutes per week. Data are reported as descriptive statistics and proportions; Pearson's chi-squared analyses were used to examine the relationships between categorical variables. RESULTS: Overall, 65.2% of females reported using HC. Combined oral contraceptives were most commonly used (48.3%), followed by intrauterine devices (40.7%). Compared with non-HC users, HC users reported a significantly lower occurrence of premenstrual syndrome (65.7% vs. 54.0%, respectively; p = .004). Compared with the prevalence of perceived negative side effects, HC users reported a higher prevalence of perceived positive side effects. Progestin-only HC users reported significantly more perceived negative side effects than combination HC users (58.2% vs. 48.5%, respectively; p = .042). The physical activity level did not appear to influence perceived side effects. CONCLUSIONS: HC use in females remains very high. HC users reported a higher number of perceived positive side effects compared with perceived negative side effects; the type of HC method may impact the perceived side effects.