Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 5, 2026
Fertility Preservation Through Oocyte Vitrification: Clinical and Laboratory Perspectives
Published on: September 16, 2021
Return to fertility after cessation of a continuous oral contraceptive
Kurt Barnhart1, Sebastian Mirkin, Gary Grubb
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, PENN Fertility Care, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. kbarnhart@obgyn.upenn.edu
Objective:
To evaluate the return to fertility among women planning to become pregnant after the use of a continuous regimen of levonorgestrel 90 microg and ethinyl E(2) 20 microg.
Design:
Descriptive analysis of pregnancy outcomes after participation in a contraceptive trial.
Setting:
Multicenter trial.
Subject(S):
Participants in a phase 3 contraceptive trial who discontinued to become pregnant.
Intervention(S):
Eligible subjects were contacted at 3 and 12 months after treatment discontinuation to determine if and when they had conceived.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Kaplan-Meier analysis displaying the time until conception after oral contraceptive discontinuation.
Result(S):
In the phase 3 trial, 34 of 2,134 subjects cited a desire for pregnancy as a reason for discontinuation. Of these, 4 were already pregnant before stopping treatment, 4 initiated other contraception, and 5 were lost to follow-up. Of the remaining 21 subjects at risk of pregnancy, the pregnancy rate was 57% at 3 months, 81% at 12 months, and 86% (18 of 21) (95% confidence interval 64% to 97%) at 13 months after discontinuation of treatment.
Conclusion(S):
These findings suggest that a continuous oral contraceptive with levonorgestrel 90 microg and ethinyl E(2) 20 microg does not delay the return to fertility.
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