Depo Provera contraceptive increases risk for chlamydia and gonorrhea infection

Depo Provera contraceptive increases risk for chlamydia and gonorrhea infection

The injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) appears to increase a woman's risk of acquiring the sexually transmitted infections chlamydia and gonorrhea by approximately three fold when compared to women not using a hormonal contraceptive, according to a study jointly funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Population and Reproductive Health.

DMPA is marketed under the product name Depo Provera. The contraceptive is injected into either the arm or buttocks four times a year.

The study was unable to determine why DMPA might increase the risk for these infections.

"These findings underscore the need to counsel all sexually active women who use DMPA and who are not in a mutually monogamous relationship to use condoms consistently and correctly," said the study's first author, Charles Morrison, Ph.D., of Family Health International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. "For sexually active women not in a mutually monogamous relationship, limiting the number of partners may also help to reduce the risk."