Doornweerd Anne Marieke, Branje Susan, Nelemans Stefanie A, Meeus Wim H J, Montoya Estrella R, Engelhard Iris M, Baas Joke M P, Gerritsen Lotte
Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 May 23;13:799470. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.799470. eCollection 2022.
The use of oral contraceptives (OCs) has been associated with increased incidences of anxiety and depression, for which adolescents seem to be particularly vulnerable. Rather than looking at singular outcomes, we examined whether OC use is associated with depressive and anxiety symptom trajectories from early adolescence into early adulthood.
Data from 178 girls were drawn from the Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships (RADAR-Y) younger cohort study. We used assessments on 9 waves from age 13 until 24. Developmental trajectories of ratings on the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS-2) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) were compared between never and ever users of OCs.
Never users showed increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms in late adolescence, whereas OC users showed a stable level of symptoms throughout adolescence. This effect remained after adjusting for baseline differences between groups in romantic relationships, sexual debut, educational level, smoking, drinking, and drug use. Age of OC use onset did not significantly predict symptom development.
OC use in adolescence was related to an altered developmental trajectory of internalizing symptoms, in which OC users did not show an increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms in late adolescence, whereas never users did. The question remains whether this altered symptom trajectory can be considered a protective effect of OC use on psychopathology. Additional research is needed to improve our understanding of the long-term consequences of OC use on mental health.
口服避孕药（OCs）的使用与焦虑和抑郁发病率的增加有关，青少年似乎对此尤为易感。我们并非着眼于单一结果，而是研究了从青春期早期到成年早期口服避孕药的使用是否与抑郁和焦虑症状轨迹相关。
178名女孩的数据取自青少年发展与关系研究（RADAR-Y）较年轻队列研究。我们使用了从13岁到24岁期间9次测评的数据。比较了从未使用和曾经使用口服避孕药者在雷诺兹青少年抑郁量表（RADS-2）和儿童焦虑相关情绪障碍筛查量表（SCARED）上评分的发展轨迹。
从未使用者在青春期后期抑郁和焦虑症状增加，而口服避孕药使用者在整个青春期症状水平保持稳定。在对两组在恋爱关系、首次性行为、教育水平、吸烟、饮酒和吸毒方面的基线差异进行调整后，这一效应依然存在。开始使用口服避孕药的年龄并不能显著预测症状发展。
青春期使用口服避孕药与内化症状的发展轨迹改变有关，其中口服避孕药使用者在青春期后期抑郁和焦虑症状没有增加，而从未使用者则增加。问题仍然是这种改变的症状轨迹是否可被视为口服避孕药使用对精神病理学的保护作用。需要进一步的研究来增进我们对口服避孕药使用对心理健康长期影响的理解。
