Recent studies suggest a potential association between the use of oral contraceptives and alterations in brain areas responsible for processing fear. The discovery might offer insights into fear-related mechanisms that disproportionately impact women.
Although hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle are known to influence the brain’s fear circuitry, Canadian researchers sought to investigate the impact of combined oral contraceptive (COC) use on the relationship between natural and synthetic sex hormones.
Currently, over 150 million individuals are using oral contraceptives, particularly those containing synthetic estrogens and progestogens. Among the findings, researchers observed that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) appeared thinner in women currently using COCs compared to men.
However, this effect seemed reversible, as it did not persist in individuals who stopped using contraceptives. Despite these associations, there are no documented adverse effects related to changes in brain region size, although the potential implications are worth exploring further.
A physiologist at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Alexandra Brouillard, suggests that these alterations might affect emotion regulation in women, potentially impacting how combined oral contraceptives influence women’s brains.
Notably, the researchers found that the influence of COC use on brain structure seemed to diminish when contraceptive use was halted, although additional research is needed to understand the implications fully. Exclusion of women from research studies has contributed to the knowledge gap around anxiety and stress-related disorders that disproportionately affect women.
Despite this, Brouillard emphasizes that the aim is not to discourage COC use but to raise awareness of its potential effects on the brain. The study has been published in Frontiers.
