What are the adverse effects of oral levonorgestrel emergency contraception?
Adverse effects from oral levonorgestrel emergency contraception are uncommon and are seldom severe. • In a large randomized controlled trial, the most common adverse effects reported by women taking oral levonorgestrel for emergency contraception were nausea (14%), fatigue (14%), and bleeding not related to menses (16%). More than half the women had menses within 2 days of the expected date. More of the remaining women in the levonorgestrel group tended to have menses earlier than expected [von Hertzen et al, 2002]. For details, see Table 1. • Ectopic pregnancies have been reported after the use of emergency contraception, but there is no concern that the risk of ectopic pregnancy is increased by emergency contraception. • A Cochrane review of 48 trials on emergency contraception in 33,110 women identified 5 cases of ectopic pregnancy (2 in women taking oral levonorgestrel and 3 in women taking mifepristone) [Cheng et al, 2004]; in the 4 trials which reported ectopic pregnancies there
