Barrier Contraceptive Methods and Preeclampsia

Recent investigations have suggested that women who use barrier methods of contraception may be at increased risk for preeclampsia. We used data from two prospective pregnancy studies to examine the relationship between contraceptive use before conception and preeclampsia. The preeclampsia rates among women using barrier contraceptives were not significantly higher than the rates in women using nonbarrier contraceptives or the rates in women using no contraceptives in either study. The odds ratios for preeclampsia in barrier contraceptive users in the two studies were 0.89 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71 to 1.12) and 0.85 (95% CI, 0.49 to 1.45) compared with nonbarrier contraceptive users and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.71 to 1.16) and 0.81 (95% CI, 0.48 to 1.35) compared with women using no contraceptives. After adjusting for other risk factors, we found no association between preeclampsia and barrier contraceptive use. Additional studies are needed to resolve this issue; however, we would recommend that women not be advised to avoid barrier contraceptives unless more data linking their use to preeclampsia appear.