Results
Sixty-two participants were enrolled in the present study and four of them were excluded due to
not meeting the recruitment criteria. Fifty-eight participants who received the contraceptive patch had an
average age of 19.4 years. The mean height was 158.8 cms and mean weight was 51.8 kgs. The mean body mass index was 20.8 Kg/m2. The mean of menstrual interval was 28.5 days and mean of duration was 4.5 days (Table 1). Thirty nine percent of the subjects had menstrual cramps every cycle or every other cycle. Eighty seven percent of the participants were the first hormonal contraceptive users.
No pregnancy was reported during the use of Ortho Evra in 3 cycles. The majority reported that they remembered to apply the patch on the time. The preferred application site was the lower abdomen (48.3%),followed by upper outer arm (20.7%), the buttock (20.7%) and back (10.3%). About 6.9% experienced at least one episode of partial patch detachment. There was no report of complete patch detachment.
Most of the participants reported regular menstrual periods while using Ortho Evra. No woman
experienced breakthrough bleeding. A decrease in dysmenorrhea symptoms was reported by 13.8% of
participants. There was no significant change in body weight and blood pressure during use of Evra
(Table 2). Forty-four percent of the participants reported improvement of their facial acne.
About one-third of the participants reported breast tenderness or discomfort, followed by mild