Millions of women worldwide use oral contraceptives (OCs), often starting during puberty/adolescence. It is, however, unknown how OC use during this critical period of development affects the brain. The objective of the current study was to examine resting state functional connectivity (FC) in the default mode network (DMN), central executive network (CEN), salience network (SN), reward network (RN), and subcortical limbic network of the brain using independent component analysis (ICA) between pubertal- and adult-onset OC users (n = 27) and naturally cycling women (n = 48). It was hypothesized that OC use would result in network-specific increases and decreases in FC and that pubertal-onset OC use would result in differences to the aforementioned networks compared to adult-onset OC use. Pubertal-onset OC use is related to heightened FC in the SN compared to adult-onset OC users. In general, OC use also increases connectivity in the SN, CEN, RN, and subcortical limbic network compared to NC women. No significant differences in connectivity were observed in the DMN between OC users and NC women. These findings provide a mechanistic insight for the altered executive functioning and emotion/reward processing previously seen in OC users, which may then increase their vulnerability to mental health conditions.

全球数以百万计的妇女使用口服避孕药（OCs），通常是在青春期/青春期开始服用。但是，尚不清楚在这个关键的发展时期内使用OC如何影响大脑。当前研究的目的是检查默认模式网络（DMN），中央执行网络（CEN），显着网络（SN），奖励网络（RN）和皮质下边缘网络的静止状态功能连接（FC）。使用独立分量分析（ICA）在青春期和成人发作的OC使用者（n  = 27）与自然骑自行车的妇女（n = 48）。据推测，OC的使用将导致特定网络的FC增加和减少，而青春期OC的使用与成人OC相比将导致上述网络的差异。与成人发作的OC用户相比，青春期发作的OC使用与SN中FC升高有关。通常，与NC女性相比，使用OC还可以增强SN，CEN，RN和皮质下边缘网络的连通性。在OC用户和NC女性之间的DMN中，在连接性方面没有观察到显着差异。这些发现为先前在OC用户中看到的执行功能的变化和情感/奖励处理的改变提供了机械的见解，从而可能增加他们对精神健康状况的脆弱性。