RESUMO
Subpopulations of peripheral lymphocytes were studied in 40 women taking oral hormonal contraceptives [OC's], in 50 women using intrauterine contraceptive devices [IUD's] and in 20 age matched control group of women who had never taken oral hormonal contraceptive pills not used intrauterine devices. The group taking oral hormonal contraceptive demonstrated significant depression of their T lymphocyte count when compared to the control group. While, the group using IUS's showed significant rise of their T lymphocytes count. On the other hand no significant quantitative difference in subpopulation of the peripheral lymphocytes "B cells" with IgG, IgA and IgM markers was observed between the three studied groups. These findings suggest that the use of oral hormonal contraceptives induces a state of immunological abnormality, affecting mainly the cellular limb of the immune system. While in IUD's users the increase in the T lymphocytes suggest that the ID's mode of action might partly be immunologically mediated