According to a new study, women's perception of their body image plays a major role in what kind of birth control they use.

But as NewsChannel5 reports, that could contribute to unplanned pregnancies.

Many women struggle with choosing a birth control method and worry about their image.

The National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health did a nationwide survey on this topic.

"We were not surprised to find that weight gain affects how confident a woman feels or how sexy she feels," nurse Susan Wysocki said.

The study found that four out of 10 women say that their concern with gaining weight could be a reason why they wouldn't take oral contraceptives. In addition, half of the young women and one-third of older women who went off the pill didn't choose another birth control method.

"This is what leads to unintended pregnancy," Wysocki said.

Wysocki, president of the group that did the survey, said that using a low-dose birth control pill is effective to prevent pregnancy and doesn't have the side effects that the higher-dosed pills of the past have had.

"In Ohio, there are 2.5 million women of childbearing age," Wysocki said. "What our survey tells us is that we need to be doing a better job getting the word out to them, that today's ultra-low dose birth control pills are not only effective, but (that) they won't cause them to gain weight."

Wysocki said that in the past, birth control pills were made with much higher doses of estrogen than the lower-dosed ones made today, at around 20 micrograms a pill.