Emergency contraception (EC) provides a woman with an additional line of defense against unintended pregnancy following an act of unprotected intercourse. Orally-dosed EC works by delaying ovulation and reduces the risk of pregnancy for a single act of unprotected intercourse by 50-70%. Unfortunately, obese women are significantly more likely than their normal BMI counterparts to experience failure of orally-dosed EC and in some instances EC is equivalent to placebo. Our preliminary data provides evidence for testing a dose escalation strategy in an effort to provide improved efficacy from orally-dosed EC in obese women. We hypothesize that increasing the dose of orally-dosed EC agents will normalize the pharmacokinetics resulting in the expected treatment effect (delay in follicle rupture) in obese women. In this proposal, we plan to perform detailed pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies of ulipristal acetate- based EC in obese women and expand upon our preliminary findings of levonorgestrel-based EC.

Public Health Relevance

Obese women are significantly more likely than their normal BMI counterparts to experience failure of orally-dosed emergency contraceptives. Our preliminary data provides evidence for testing a dose escalation strategy in an effort to provide improved efficacy from orally-dosed emergency contraceptives in obese women.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01HD089957-01
Application #
9213428
Study Section
Integrative and Clinical Endocrinology and Reproduction Study Section (ICER)
Program Officer
Kaufman, Steven
Project Start
2016-12-22
Project End
2020-10-31
Budget Start
2016-12-22
Budget End
2017-10-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Oregon Health and Science University
Department
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
096997515
City
Portland
State
OR
Country
United States
Zip Code
97239