Hematological parameters of reproductive-age women using hormonal contraceptives at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia: A comparative cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background More than one-third of reproductive aged women in Ethiopia use hormonal contraceptives to prevent conception. The present study aimed to compare the hematological parameters of reproductive-age women taking hormonal contraceptives at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia in 2021. Methods A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June 2021. A total of 240 study participants were recruited by using a consecutive sampling technique. Data on socio-demographic variables and clinical data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire and medical record reviews, respectively. Three milliliter venous blood was collected for complete blood count analysis using Unicel DxH 800 coulter hematology analyzer. Data was entered into Epi-data 4.4.3.1 version then exported to IBM SPSS v25 for analysis. Kruskal-Wallis H, Dunn-Bonferroni pairwise comparison test, and Spearman’s correlation analysis were used for inferential statistics. P<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Result The median and interquartile range of platelet count among combined oral contraceptive users was 285(238–332) which is significantly higher than that of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate users 246(220–226) (p = 0.010), implant user 247(221–297) (p = 0.034), and controls 256(224–278) (p = 0.015). The result also showed long-term use of implant negatively correlated with red blood cell count (p = 0.033). Conclusion This finding concludes that combined oral contraceptive users had a higher platelet counts than controls while long-term use of implants can result in low red blood cells count. Therefore, a baseline evaluation of complete blood count in women desiring contraceptive methods would also be recommended.