Women using harmonal contraceptives are at double risk of acquiring and passing HIV infections, a new study published in the renowned Birtish medical journal the Lancet has revealed.
According to the study, the risk is significantly higer for women using injectable methods of contraception.
The researchers screened about 3,790 heterosexual couples, one of whom was already infected with HIV, who were participating in two longitudinal studies of HIV-1 incidence in seven African countries, including Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda. The average monitoring period was 18 months.
The study revealed that using hormonal contraceptives doubled a woman’s chances of becoming infected with HIV-1. The risk was increased for both indictable and oral contraceptives, although it was not statistically significant for oral contraceptives. According to the Lancet, harmonal contraceptives are used widely but their effects in HIV-1 risk are unclear. Having done the study, researchers caution that “non-hormonal or low-dose hormonal contraceptive methods should be considered for women with or at-risk for HIV-1,” it said.
The study also showed that women who were HIV positive before the study started and who were using indictable hormonal contraception, were twice as likely to transmit the virus to their male partner than compared with those women which are not using hormonal contraception. “Among the 2476 couples where the man was not HIV positive, the rate of acquisition was 2.61 among men whose partners used hormonal contraception compared with 1.51 for those whose partners did not,” added the Lancet. The researchers therefore suggested. “Contraceptive counselling should be combined with HIV-1 counselling and testing”.
Union health ministry officials say that study gains significance as clinical trails on the effects of indictable harmones are underway by the IICMR.