Even if the risk remains “low”, the IUDs containing the most hormones would be at the origin of a greater number of depressive disorders.
IUDs containing the most hormones would present a greater risk of depressive disorders but this remains “low”, warns the National Medicines Agency (ANSM) on Tuesday after the publication of a study to this effect.
An intrauterine device (IUD) or intrauterine device with hormones is a contraceptive method whose duration of action is 5 years in the majority of cases. It locally diffuses levonorgestrel, a synthetic progestin hormone that thickens the cervical mucus between the vagina and the uterus.
It is this thickening that blocks the passage of sperm and provides contraception.
As with all hormonal contraception, the use of such a contraceptive may be associated with a risk of depression or mood disorders, recalls the ANSM.
The consumption of psychotropic drugs as an indicator
To assess whether these risks depend on the levonorgestrel dosage, the EPI-PHARE scientific interest group (GIS) formed by the ANSM and the Cnam studied the consumption of psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, anxiolytics and hypnotics) in the two years following the insertion of the IUD, dosed either with 52 mg or 19.5 mg of levonorgestrel.
The results of this epidemiological study, published in December in the journal Jama Network, show that women with an IUD with a higher dosage of levonorgestrel (52 mg) have a slightly increased risk of using antidepressants (+13 %) in the two years following the insertion of the IUD compared to an IUD with a lower dose of progestin. On the other hand, the study did not show an increase in the use of anxiolytics or hypnotics.
“The risks are low, even very low,” Isabelle Yoldjian, medical director of the ASNM, told AFP. “This information does not make it possible to determine a course of action, but to provide additional information and improve the exchange between the practitioner and the patient”, she added.
The two hormonal IUDs dosed at 52 mg of levonorgestrel are Mirena and Donasert. The others, Kyleena and Jaydess, are less dosed (19.5 mg and 13.5 mg).
