Continuous oral or intramuscular medroxyprogesterone acetate versus the levonorgestrel releasing intrauterine system in the treatment of perimenopausal menorrhagia: a randomized, prospective, controlled clinical trial in female smokers.

OBJECTIVE:

To compare the efficacy of three progestin regimens in perimenopausal menorrhagia.

DESIGN:

One hundred thirty-two women with menorrhagia were included in this prospective, randomized, comparative trial. Women were randomized to three groups of 44 in each, either to get a single shot of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, intramuscularly (Group 1), or medroxyprogesterone acetate in a daily dose of 5 mg orally (Group 2), or the levonorgestrel releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) (Group 3). The Mann-Whitney U-test was applied to compare independent groups.

RESULTS:

Pictorial blood loss assessment chart (PBAC) score, the duration of bleeding and mean hemoglobin level were improved in all groups. Comparing the groups we noted that for the PBAC, there was no statistically significant difference between groups 1 and 2, while group 3 was superior to both groups 1 and 2 (p < 0.05 and p < 0.05, respectively). Mean duration of menstruation showed no differences among the groups. Hemoglobin levels were no statistically significant differences between groups 1 and 2, while group 3 was superior to both groups 1 and 2 (p < 0.05 and p < 0.05, respectively).

CONCLUSION:

The efficacies of oral and intramuscular medroxyprogesterone acetate in the treatment of menorrhagia were comparable each other, however, the efficacy of LNG-IUS was superior to both.