Weight Gain With the Birth Control Shot

There was a recent study that exacerbated the myth that women who chose to use Depo-Provera (otherwise known as the birth control shot) would more than likely gain weight as a result; however, researchers hailing from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston recently discovered that there were only certain females who were more likely to gain weight when they began utilizing the birth control shot.

Studies had shown that three-quarters of women who used the Depo-Provera shot as a form of contraception gained no weight or very little weight. The remaining women were deemed “early gainers” because within the first half year of using the shot, their weight increased approximately 5 percent. It is these early gainers who are most at risk of gaining weight over the duration of their use of the shot. In fact, these early gainers gained an average of 24 pounds in a three year span. Dr. Abbey Berenson, an author on the study and a professor at UTMB’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, states, “DMPA-related weight gain is linked to increased abdominal fat, a known component of metabolic syndrome, which raises the risk of obesity-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.” The study concluded that due to this insight, physicians should advise their patients based on a woman’s risk factors. The authors recommend that physicians perform a weight check at a scheduled follow-up visit in three months; based on these results, if a woman has had a considerable weight gain, the physician could offer a different contraceptive for the woman.

The risk factors the researchers noted in their study include the following: a) a woman having had children before using the birth control shot, b) a woman having a BMI (body mass index) under thirty and c) a woman reporting to her physician that her appetite spiked within half a year of using the birth control shot. The study had close to 250 participants, all women between the ages of 16 and 33. These women all used the birth control shot for their contraceptive choice in a three year span. Researchers found that those women who had a considerable weight gain in the first half year of using the shot continued an upward trend of weight gain in the study’s time span.

Berenson states, “The amount of DMPA administered to a woman does not change based on weight, as occurs with some medications. The drug may be more concentrated in the tissue of a woman with a BMI under 30 and may contribute to excessive weight gain, but more research is needed.” The birth control shot is injected in a woman four times a year. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that over two million women in the U.S. currently use this type of contraception. Twenty percent of these women are teenagers. The birth control shot is popular because it has proven effective, is less expensive than other contraceptives and does not need to be thought about daily.