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Recent findings presented by Abigail Hegwood, M.S., from the Prakapenka Lab at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Boston, Mass., suggest a correlation between the type of estrogen in hormonal birth control and anxiety-like behaviors.

Alesia Prakapenka, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Biomedical Sciences program at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Ill., highlighted the potential significance, stating, "It is plausible that estrogen type is a key player in mood or cognitive related side effects of hormone-based contraceptive use."

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that 12.6% of women in the United States aged 15 to 49 reported using oral contraceptives from 2015 to 2017. Prakapenka and her colleagues noted that behavioral side effects often prompt discontinuation of combination birth control methods.

The study aimed to determine whether identifying specific estrogen types could aid in evaluating anxiety and cognition-related behaviors. Using a rat model, 36 young adult female rats were randomly assigned to receive synthetic ethinyl estradiol plus dienogest, natural estradiol valerate plus dienogest, or a vehicle control treatment, Neuroscience News reported.

After four weeks, the rats underwent assessments for spatial memory and anxiety-like behavior using a delayed spontaneous alternation task and elevated plus maze, respectively. Serum analysis for hormone levels, including estradiol, progesterone, and corticosterone, was conducted.

Results indicated that rats treated with synthetic estrogen displayed heightened anxiety-like behaviors compared to those receiving natural estrogen or the control treatment, with spatial memory remaining consistent across groups. Notably, the synthetic estrogen group showed a preference for a habitual turn strategy, associated with anxiety-like behaviors, during the spatial memory task.

Hegwood emphasized the implications of their findings, stating, "Altogether, our findings support the notion that estrogen type matters for behavioral outcomes associated with contraceptive use, identifying estrogen type as a potential clinical tool for management of behavioral side effects in females."