A COMPARATIVE CLINICAL INVESTIGATION OF ENDOCRINE PARAMETERS WITH 2 LOW-DOSE ORAL-CONTRACEPTIVES CONTAINING EITHER 75 MU-G GESTODENE OR 150MU-G DESOGESTREL COMBINED WITH 20 MU-G ETHINYLESTRADIOL

The study was planned to compare ovarian suppression and relative andr ogenicity of two 21-day low-dose monophasic oral contraceptives contai ning either 75 mu g gestodene or 150 mu g desogestrel and 20 mu g ethi nylestradiol. A total of 136 health women between the ages of 18 and 4 5 years participated in the study, which measured serum levels of 17 b eta-estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, free testosterone, sex horm one binding globulin and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate at baseline, a nd during treatment cycles 3 and 6. Ovarian suppression was evident at cycle 3 and cycle 6 in both groups, with 17 beta-estradiol and proges terone levels significantly reduced (p < 0.05) in comparison with base line. The effects of treatment on these two parameters were similar in the two groups, except that progesterone levels were found to be sign ificantly lower (p = 0.028) in the gestodene group (1.03 vs. 1.18 nmol /l) at the start of cycle 6 (day-1). Both treatments resulted in a sig nificant reduction (p < 0.05) of testosterone, free testosterone and d ehydroepiandrosterone sulfate towards the end of cycle 3 and cycle 6 ( day 21), and there were no significant differences between the two gro ups. Both combined low-dose oral contraceptive preparations produced e ffective ovarian suppression and were associated with a similar reduct ion of free testosterone.