Progestogen-Only Pill Associates with False-Positive Aldosterone/Renin Ratio Screening Test
January 2020
in “
the british journal of cardiology
”
TLDR The birth control pill with only progestogen can cause a false alarm in a hormone test.
In 2019, a case study was conducted on a 20-year-old woman who showed an elevated aldosterone/renin ratio (ARR), a screening for primary hyperaldosteronism, while on the progestogen-only pill (POP). After she stopped taking the POP for four weeks, her ARR levels returned to normal, indicating that the POP may have caused a false-positive ARR test. This was the first reported case of a POP-related false-positive ARR screening for primary hyperaldosteronism. The study concluded that women undergoing ARR measurement should consider stopping the use of POP to avoid false-positive results and unnecessary further investigations and treatments.