Norethindrone acetate or dienogest for the treatment of symptomatic endometriosis: a before and after study

Paolo Vercellini, B Bracco, Benedetta Bracco, Bracco B, Paola Mosconi, Roberto Ratiglia, Anna Roberto, Alberico D, Daniela Alberico, Dridi Dhouha, Dhouha Dridi, Dhouha D, Edgardo Somigliana
Fertility and sterility · 2015 · vol. 105(3) , pp. 734–743.e3 · doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.11.016 · PMID:26677792 · W2190711277
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 93 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

This study compared the efficacy of norethindrone acetate and dienogest in treating symptomatic endometriosis by assessing outcomes before and after treatment.

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

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess the proportion of patients satisfied with their treatment before and after a systematic change from norethindrone acetate to dienogest as the first-line progestin for symptomatic endometriosis.DesignBefore and after study.SettingAcademic department.Patient(s)The last 90 new consecutive endometriosis patients in whom norethindrone acetate was used, and the first 90 new consecutive endometriosis patients in whom dienogest was used.Intervention(s)Norethindrone acetate at the oral dose of 2.5 mg once a day until June 6, 2013, then dienogest at the oral dose of 2 mg once a day thereafter.Main outcome measure(s)Degree of satisfaction with treatment after 6 months of progestin therapy and assessment of any variations in pain symptoms, psychological status, sexual function, or health-related quality of life associated with the introduction of dienogest.Result(s)The proportion of satisfied plus very satisfied women after 6 months of treatment was 71% in the "before" period (norethindrone acetate) and 72% in the "after" period (dienogest). The implementation of dienogest was not associated with statistically significant ameliorations in overall pain relief, psychological status, sexual functioning, or health-related quality of life. Treatment was well tolerated by 58% of norethindrone acetate users compared with 80% of dienogest users. After dienogest implementation, the absolute risk reduction in the occurrence of any side effect was 13.9% (95% confidence interval, 0.8%-28.6%).Conclusion(s)Considering the large difference in the cost of the two drugs, dienogest should be suggested selectively in women who do not tolerate norethindrone acetate.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Drug Substitution Endometriosis Nandrolone Norethindrone Progestins Adult Cost-Benefit Analysis Drug Costs Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Nandrolone Nandrolone Nandrolone Nandrolone Norethindrone

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 (59)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-08-10T06:11:17.106188+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:17:33.600579+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK