Beyond Birth Control: Noncontraceptive Benefits of Hormonal Methods and Their Key Role in the General Medical Care of Women

Sarina Schrager, Magnolia Larson, Jensena Carlson, Kathryn Ledford, Deborah B Ehrenthal
Journal of women's health (2002) · 2020 · vol. 29(7) , pp. 937–943 · doi:10.1089/jwh.2019.7731 · PMID:32155101 · W3011579154
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Hormonal contraceptives containing estrogen and/or progestins are effective for pregnancy prevention and offer significant noncontraceptive benefits, including cancer prevention and treatment for conditions like endometriosis, fibroids, and migraines.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Contraceptives that contain estrogen and/or progestins are used by millions of women around the world to prevent pregnancy. Owing to their unique physiological mechanism of action, many of these medications can also be used to prevent cancer and treat multiple general medical conditions that are common in women. We performed a comprehensive literature search. This article will describe the specific mechanisms of action and summarize the available data documenting how hormonal contraceptives can prevent ovarian and uterine cancer and be used to treat women with a variety of gynecological and nongynecological conditions such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, heavy menstrual bleeding, polycystic ovary syndrome, acne, and migraines. Contraceptive methods containing estrogen and progestin can be used for a wide variety of medical issues in women.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal Endometriosis Estrogens Ovarian Neoplasms Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Progestins Uterine Neoplasms Adult Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal Endometriosis Estrogens Female Humans Middle Aged Ovarian Neoplasms Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Progestins Reproductive Health Uterine Neoplasms

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (61)

Cited by (3)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-12T06:13:51.797165+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:22:11.167363+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK