Pharmacokinetic Alterations and Effectiveness of Hormonal Contraception in Obese Women

Abstract

The obese women have higher obstetric complication risk in pregnancies compared to women with normal  body mass index. The effectiveness of contraception for such women becomes an important reproductive  issue. Because the pharmacokinetic changes of hormonal contraceptive used in obese women may lead to  the lower serum hormone levels compared with normal weight women, resulting in contraception  effectiveness. But, most of the existing studies on contraception methods do not cover the women weighed  greater than 130% of ideal body weight. Physicians are not confident about the potential of hormonal  contraception effectiveness in this population. This article aimed to present the study results on  pharmacokinetic alternations as well as contraceptive effectiveness of hormonal contraception in obese women, including combined oral contraceptives, contraceptive patch, contraceptive vaginal ring, injectable contraceptives, contraceptive implant, intrauterine contraceptive device and emergency pills, with the aim to  provide physician information to select the appropriate contraception methods