Hormonal contraception and bone health
Provider brief
Hormonal contraceptives, which include birth control pills, injections, implants, the patch and the vaginal ring, all use hormones to keep a woman from getting pregnant. These hormones can have other health effects for women, many of them beneficial, besides just preventing pregnancy. However, some questions have been raised about how particular hormonal contraceptives, DMPA (depot medroxyprogesterone acetate with trade names of Depo-Provera, Depo-Clinovir and others) and NET-EN (norethisterone enantate or Noristerat, Norigest, Doryxas and others), may affect the health of women’s bone.