Contraceptive pills may affect fear-regulating brain areas in women

A Canadian team of researchers has now explored the current and long-term consequences of COC use, as well as the influence of naturally occurring and synthetic sex hormones on fear-related brain areas, the neural circuitry through which fear is processed in the brain...

In our study, we show that healthy women currently using COCs had a thinner ventromedial prefrontal cortex than men, said Alexandra Brouillard, a researcher at Universite du Quebec a Montreal and first author of the study published in Frontiers in Endocrinology...

The team recruited women who were currently using COCs; women who used COCs previously but did not at the time of the study; women who never used any form of hormonal contraception; and men.. Comparing these groups allowed the researchers to see if COC use was associated with current or long-term morphologic alterations as well as to detect sex differences since it is established that women are more susceptible to experiencing anxiety and stress-related disorders than men...

As we report reduced cortical thickness of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in COC users compared to men, our result suggests that COCs may confer a risk factor for emotion regulation deficits during their current use, Brouillard said...

Our aim is to increase scientific interest in womens health and raise awareness about early prescription of COCs and brain development, a highly unknown topic, concluded Brouillard..

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