Contraceptives don't curb sexual desire, a new study claims.

Other factors including age and the length of someone's relationship are more important, experts say.

Using the Pill has long been believed to decrease desire in women, but scientific evidence has been scarce.

But the research by US scientists suggests that a woman's libido is far more complex.

Contraceptives don't reduce sexual desire - other factors including the length of someone's relationship are more important, experts say

A study by scientists at the University of Kentucky and Indiana University analysed two studies they carried out.

They decided to explore the impact of using different contraceptives on the sexual desire of both men and women in relationships.

They looked at the impact of three different contraceptive types – oral hormonal contraceptive, other hormonal contraceptive and non-hormonal contraceptive.

The three sub-types were all tested on more than 450 heterosexual couples of various periods.

Sexual desire, both alone or with a partner, was measured using a tool known as the 'Sexual Desire Inventory'.

The findings revealed significant differences in the way contraceptives affected the desire of women alone and in their relationships.

Using the Pill has long been believed to decrease desire in women, but scientific evidence has been scarce

Women on non-hormonal contraceptives reported higher desire on their own and women on oral contraceptives reported higher desire with their partner.

However, when the researchers adjusted the results to take into account relationship length and age, the differences were no longer significant.

They said this suggested that the contraceptive type that has the least impact on desire - and other factors are more important.

Lead researcher Dr Kristen Mark: 'We wanted to understand the link between desire and contraceptive choice, especially in the context of longer-term relationships.

'Most research doesn’t focus on partners or people in long-term relationships but many contraceptive users are in long-term monogamous relationships, so this is an important group to study.

'Our findings are clear: the pill doesn’t kill desire. This research helps to bust those myths and hopefully eventually get rid of this common cultural script in our society.

'By continuing to unravel the mysteries behind the inaccurate anecdotes out there, I hope we can help women understand – and address – changes in their sexual desire.'

However, they say more research is needed to confirm what affects a woman's sexual desire.