• prescribing
• combined hormonal contraception

The research undertaken by Cea-Soriano et al 1 provides for the first time analysis of the prescribing patterns of three combined hormonal contraception (CHC) products with regard to contraceptive and non-contraceptive indications. Their study utilised the general practice database, The Health Improvement Network (THIN), and considers the proportion of new and continuing users of these methods, along with the indications for their use, for the time period January 2002 to December 2010.

The three key insights from this article are, first, the identification that during the period of review the use of cyproterone-containing preparations solely for contraception has reduced from 32.9% in 2002 to 8.6% in 2010 with the majority of women in 2010 having been prescribed this medication for acne management. Second, that the use of both drospirenone (DRSP)- and levonorgestrel (LNG)-containing preparations for hormone-dependent conditions including menstrual disorders, acne, hirsutisms and …