The association of contraceptive methods and depression

BACKGROUND: None of the contraceptive methods are fully side-effect free. One of the side effects that commonly causes discontinuation is mood changes and depression. The present study aimed to compare the depression between contraceptive methods including low-dose estrogen (LD) combined pills, condom and intrauterine devices (IUD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 216 women were selected through systematic random sampling from 10 health care center sin Isfahan in 2011. Beck Depression Inventory II was used and individual productivity characteristics were asked. Validity and reliability of Beck depression inventory have been repeatedly confirmed in Iran. Content validity the productivity characteristics questionnaire was confirmed and its reliability was measured through Cronbach’s alpha correlation coefficient (calculated as 0.71). ANOVA, covariance analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. FINDINGS: Depression was observed in 47.8% of participants; however, there was no difference between mean score of depression in the users of three contraceptive methods. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study showed that depression is not correlated with family planning type and fear of depression should not be an obstacle to choose between these methods. Depression is a multifactor issue. This study showed that type of family planning method in itself cannot be the cause of depression and family planners and consultants should consider this.