---
title: Does a birth control pill with drospirenone reduce water retention symptoms?
description: Yes. Women taking this pill had significant reduction in water retention symptoms during the premenstrual and menstrual phases, with no weight gain.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/a-canadian-multicentre-prospective-study-on-the-effects-of-an-oral-contraceptive-2007/
---

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- Does a birth control pill with drospirenone reduce water retention symptoms?

Non-randomised trial, 2007

# Does a birth control pill with drospirenone reduce water retention symptoms?

Yes. Women taking this pill had significant reduction in water retention symptoms during the premenstrual and menstrual phases, with no weight gain.

 Moderate study design

305 Canadian women, 43 of whom had significant water retention symptoms

## What they did

Prospective study at 26 Canadian centers over 6 treatment cycles. 305 women were tracked for body weight. Separately, 43 women with significant water retention symptoms were tracked for symptom severity using a standard questionnaire.

## What they found

In women with water retention symptoms, the symptom score dropped from 6.49 to 3.19 in the premenstrual phase and from 4.70 to 2.35 in the menstrual phase. Both reductions were statistically significant. Body weight in the full group increased only 0.14 kg on average, which was not statistically significant.

## What it means for you

This specific birth control pill can help reduce water retention and bloating if that is a major problem for you, and you will not gain weight from it. However, because this was not a randomized controlled trial, we cannot rule out placebo effect. The results apply only to this specific pill formulation.

305

Total women in the study

43

Women with significant water retention

6

Treatment cycles

## About the study

Original title A Canadian multicentre prospective study on the effects of an oral contraceptive containing 3 mg drospirenone and 30 microg ethinyl oestradiol on somatic and psychological symptoms related to water retention and on body weight Authors Endrikat J, Sandri M, Gerlinger C et al. Journal The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception Year 2007 Study design Non-randomised trial Participants 305 What was tested Oral contraceptive containing 3 mg drospirenone and 30 microg ethinyl estradiol for 6 treatment cycles Read the paper [doi.org/10.1080/13625180701440818](https://doi.org/10.1080/13625180701440818)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Bloating, breast tenderness and physical symptoms](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-physical-symptoms/)[Oral contraceptives and drospirenone](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-hormonal-contraceptives/)

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