A twelve-month comparative clinical investigation of two low-dose oral contraceptives containing 20 micrograms ethinylestradiol/75 micrograms gestodene and 20 micrograms ethinylestradiol/150 micrograms desogestrel, with respect to efficacy, cycle control and tolerance.

Researchers compared data on 234 women aged 16-35 who used a new low dose oral contraceptive (OC) containing 20 mcg ethinyl estradiol and 75 mcg gestodene during 12 cycles with data on 235 women aged 16-36 who used a low dose OC containing 20 mcg ethinyl estradiol and 150 mcg desogestrel also during 12 cycles to examine the effect of the progestogens on cycle control and adverse events. The women attended centers in France and Austria. Two women in the gestodene group conceived because of incorrect OC intake not method failure. Two women in the desogestrel group conceived one of which made many mistakes in OC intake; the other pregnancy was due to method failure. The gestodene OC achieved better cycle control especially during the first three cycles than the desogestrel OC. For example there was a 3.5% and 7.6% difference in the spotting rate within cycles 1-3 and within cycles 1-6 respectively between gestodene and desogestrel. Gestodene users were also less likely than desogestrel users to experience pain during menstruation (5.5% vs. 15.5%; p = 0.001). The two groups were essentially the same in terms of safety parameters gynecological status body weight blood pressure and laboratory values. Around 20% of women in both groups either gained or lost weight. The most common adverse events in both the gestodene and desogestrel groups were headache (14.5% vs. 11.9%) breast tension (10.7% vs. 11.9%) and nausea (6.8% vs. 7.7%). Discontinuation rates were similar for both groups. These findings show that the new OC with gestodene is effective and well tolerated and that its incidence of adverse events and discontinuations corresponded with that of the older low dose OC with desogestrel.