"New Study Finds Link Between Depo-Provera Birth Control and HIV Risk"

"The scientists selected the 12 studies, which included more than 39,500 women, based on strict criteria — like making sure to isolate and account for confounding factors, such as condom use, which might affect HIV transmission.

"According to the research published in The Lancet of Infectious Diseases, women who used the injectable birth control depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (more commonly known as Depo-Provera) saw a moderately increased risk of becoming infected with HIV. Depo-Provera is generally injected every three months to help prevent pregnancy. The scientists also looked at HIV risk relative to other methods of hormonal contraception, including injectable norethisterone oenanthate (also known as NET-OEN), combined oral contraceptives and progestin-only pills.

"Only the Depo-Provera seemed to increase the risk of contracting HIV, by roughly 40 percent compared to women using non-hormonal birth control or no birth control at all."

The researchers don't know why, since they didn't examine cause in the meta-data analysis.

Read more "good news" about Depo-Provera and other similar birth control drugs which we highlighted in the 2004-2006 timeframe, a decade ago, keeping this in mind: "[The Patch] Ortho Evra contains progestin [synthetic hormones similar in effect to progesterone], a slightly different one than in Depo-Provera, the mini-pill and NorPlant, but they all work the same."