Return of menstruation and fertility in Thai women after contraceptive injections

Abstract

A study was made of the return of spontaneous menstruation and fertility in 121 Thai women who had received contraceptive injections of medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) at intervals of 3 or 6 months with supplements of oral oestrogen at monthly intervals and who, for various reasons, had discontinued medication after 6 months or more.Spontanecous menstruation returned in 113 of the women within 6 months, but no direct relation was found between the number of injections, period of usage or total dose of DMPA and the time required for the return of menstruation.Of the 121 women who discontinued medication, only seventeen stated that they did so because they wished to conceive. Of these, twelve became pregnant within 10 months and three more within 27 months. The 104 women who discontinued medication for other reasons had a much lower pregnancy rate and must be supposed to have used, at least to some extent, other methods of contraception.