Immunological dynamics with oral contraceptives

ABSTRACT

Serum immunoglobulins [IgG and IgM] levels, T4 and T8 lymphocytes count were studied in 63 women to elucidate the effect of ethinyl estradiol "in oral contraceptives" on the immune functions. The women were divided into three groups; the "never users group" of 15 who never used oral contraceptive pills, "the current users group" of 25 who were using pills for 1-3 years and "the past users group" of 23 who stopped pills for 6 - 12 months. The current users group shoewed significant increased levels of both IgG and IgM, while the past users showed no significant difference when compared with the never users. T-cell count, in current users, showed a remarkable decrease in T4 and increase in TB but both were statistically insignificant when compared with the never users while the past users showed nearly similar figuresas never users. This study may prove the safety of the oral contraceptives on immune functions but it suggests that the potental estrogen immunosuppression may depend either on the dose and/or the period of use