Quality of sexual life of women on oral contraceptive continued-regimen: pilot study.

Introduction.  To date, women may use flexible oral contraceptive (OC) regimens. Aim.  The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of sexual life of healthy women on continued-regimen OCs. Methods.  Fifty women (age range 18-38) were enrolled. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaires were used to investigate, respectively, sexual behavior and the quality of life (QoL) of women on OC for 72 days with a 4-day hormone-free interval, for two cycles. Both the FSFI and the SF-36 were administered before starting OC intake, at the first (72-82 days) and the second (144-154 days) follow-ups. Main Outcome Measure.  The main outcomes are the FSFI and the SF-36 questionnaires. Results.  The FSFI score obtained at the first follow-up detected a worsening with respect to baseline score (P < 0.05). The score obtained at the second follow-up detected an improvement with respect to both the baseline and the first follow-up total scores (P < 0.05). QoL improved at the first follow-up only as regards body pain (P < 0.05), and at the second follow-up as regards: physical role, body pain, general health, vitality, and social function (P < 0.05). Conclusions.  The use of continued-regimen OCs is able to improve the sexual behavior and the QoL of women.