Post-use ring weight and residual drug content as potential objective measures of user adherence to a contraceptive progesterone vaginal ring
Document Type
Article (peer-reviewed)
Publication Date
2019
Abstract
Objectives: The primary aim was to investigate post-use ring weight as a potential measure of cumulative adherence to a progesterone-releasing vaginal ring. Study design: We weighed and quantified residual progesterone in 115 vaginal rings following 90-day use by participants in an acceptability trial conducted in Nigeria, Senegal and Kenya. The primary objective was to correlate residual progesterone content with post-use ring weight. Secondary objectives included correlating ring weight with putative duration of ring use, and, where participants used two rings consecutively in the study, correlating residual content between these paired rings. Results: Mean ring weight and progesterone content of used rings was 8.62 ± 0.24 g and 1245 ± 245 mg respectively, versus 9.37 ± 0.02 and 2058 ± 21 mg for control rings. Most used rings (90.4%) had residual progesterone levels less than 85% of the nominal loading. Linear regression showed a strong positive linear trend between residual progesterone content and post-use ring weight for all rings (r^2 = 0.82). Duration of ring use was inversely associated (p = .00020) with ring weight. Conclusions: Post-use ring weight is highly correlated with residual progesterone content, a benchmark objective cumulative measure of adherence, and thus potentially useful as a surrogate objective measure of cumulative adherence to a progesterone-releasing vaginal ring. Implication statement: For vaginal rings containing a high initial drug loading and releasing a relatively large fraction of the initial loading during clinical use, post-use ring weight may offer a simple and inexpensive alternative to residual content testing for accurate monitoring of user adherence.
Recommended Citation
Murphy, Diarmaid J., Clare F. McCoy, Marlena Gehret Plagianos, Saumya RamaRao, Ruth Merkatz, Heather Clark, Peter Boyd, Bruce Variano, and R. Karl Malcolma. 2019. "Post-use ring weight and residual drug content as potential objective measures of user adherence to a contraceptive progesterone vaginal ring," Contraception, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2019.06.013.
DOI
10.1016/j.contraception.2019.06.013
Language
English
Project
The Progesterone Contraceptive Vaginal Ring: Expanding Contraceptive Options in Africa