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Erschienen in:
01.11.2005 | Adis Drug Profile
Low-Dose Ethinylestradiol/Levonorgestrel
Erschienen in: Drugs | Ausgabe 16/2005
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▴ Low-dose ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel 20μg/ 100μg is a combined oral contraceptive that prevents pregnancy primarily by inhibiting ovulation.
▴ The Pearl index (pregnancies per 100 woman-years of use) with ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel 20μg/ 100μg was 0.88 and the cumulative pregnancy rate was 1.9% at the end of a 3-year open-label trial (1708 women with 26 554 evaluable cycles). The contraceptive efficacy of ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel 20μg/100μg was similar to that of other low-dose combined oral contraceptives containing ethinylestradiol 20 or 35μg in a 6-cycle trial (463 evaluable women).
▴ Ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel 20μg/100μg is well tolerated; adverse events were those commonly associated with combined oral contraceptives. Headache and metrorrhagia (2% of women) were the most common adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation in the 3-year trial.
▴ Cycle control in open-label trials in women receiving up to 36 cycles of ethinylestradiol/levonorgestrel 20μg/100μg was generally good, with the incidence of intermenstrual bleeding being highest during the first few cycles of use and decreasing thereafter.