Abstract
▴ 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.
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At the request of the journal, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. provided a non-binding review of this article.
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Dando, T.M., Curran, M.P. Low-Dose Ethinylestradiol/Levonorgestrel. Drugs 65, 2299–2306 (2005). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-200565160-00007
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-200565160-00007