Hormonal contraception and cognition: Considering the influence of endogenous ovarian hormones and genes for clinical translation

Gravelsins, Laura; Zhao, Sophia; Einstein, Gillian

doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2023.101067

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…This work stands in line with a series of previous studies showing that oral contraceptives can influence cognitive and affective processes (Gravelsins et al, 2023;Lewis et al, 2019;Tronson & Schuh, 2022). Specifically, we showed that OC use is associated with a reduced avoidance tendency to social threat signals and an increased stress-induced approach tendency to positive social signals.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…However, such variability should rather have led to smaller effects or null effects. Also with regard to the measurement time in the OC group, there is debate on when to best perform measurements to study OC effects (Gravelsins et al, 2023). Hormonal levels might vary depending on whether women are in their active or inactive phase, when in the inactive phase and, depending on the pharmacokinetics, when during the day (Gravelsins et al, 2023; Stanczyk et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also with regard to the measurement time in the OC group, there is debate on when to best perform measurements to study OC effects (Gravelsins et al, 2023). Hormonal levels might vary depending on whether women are in their active or inactive phase, when in the inactive phase and, depending on the pharmacokinetics, when during the day (Gravelsins et al, 2023; Stanczyk et al, 2013). In our study, we decided to keep the measurement time within the active phase constant, and we did not observe differences between participants depending on pill intake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reduced threat avoidance but increased stress induced approach bias in women taking oral contraceptives

Thurley,

Buades-Rotger,

Serfling

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Recent research has increasingly acknowledged the impact of oral contraceptives on affective behavior and stress responses; however, the underlying mechanisms are still not well understood. Studies have previously shown that steroid hormones modulate automatic approach and avoidance behavior. Here, we thus investigated the effects of oral contraceptives on approach and avoidance behavior and whether these effects are modulated by stress. The study comprised 130 female participants, half of whom were using oral contraceptives, while the other half were not using any hormonal contraception (NC). The participants completed the Approach Avoidance Task (AAT), which measures automatic approach and avoidance behavior to socio-affective signals. The AAT was run once before and once after a stress manipulation using the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test. OC users showed absent avoidance behavior to social threat signals and a stress-induced increase in approach behavior to positive social signals. The latter was found in particular in women taking androgenic acting OC, demonstrating that different OC preparations need to be taken into account in research on OC effects. However, OC and NC group did not differ in their cortisol stress response. Overall, the results suggest that OC usage impacts on approach and avoidance behavior to social signals, which might also contribute to the development of affective side effects.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%