Emergency contraception for women aged over 40 years.
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OBJECTIVES: Implanon was introduced in the UK in September 1999. We present here the results of our first 106 Implanon insertions, performed over a period of 18 months. The aims of the study were to study the clinical and demographic profile of Implanon users, to assess the continuation rates of Implanon in the local population, and to identify the reasons for removal. METHODS: This was a case note-based study in which the data were transferred to a standardised pre-tested proforma. RESULTS: The age range of the 106 Implanon users was 15-43 years. Eighty-six of these clients had their Implanon removed and the Implanon status of 20 clients is not known since they were lost to follow-up by our service. Of these 86 cases, 26 had completed the full 3-year period; therefore, the continuation rate at 3 years was 30.2%. The continuation rate at the end of 1 year was 69.8% and at 2 years was 44.1%. Of the 60 women who had their Implanon removed before the recommended 3-year period, the most common reason was for bleeding irregularity (24 cases, 40%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first published study set in the UK within a real-life setting to follow up a cohort of Implanon users for the full 3-year period. No contraceptive failures were found, replicating previous clinical trials. The continuation rate in this real-life situation was quite low compared to clinical trials. This is frequently the case when comparing real-life situations with clinical trials and may be in part due to higher motivation on the part of clinical trial participants.
OBJECTIVE: Studies have shown poor knowledge of oral contraceptives among women attending government health clinics and women in rural areas. Little is known about the level of contraceptive knowledge in educated, affluent, career-orientated women, although it could be expected that access to information would be greater. The study objective was to describe the profile, knowledge and understanding of oral contraceptive users in a private general practice in Johannesburg, South Africa. METHODS: Over a period of 3 months, all women attending a private general practice who were using an oral contraceptive were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire. Informed written consent was obtained in all cases. RESULTS: Fifty-one women participated in the study. Most women were nulliparous (71%), held a tertiary educational qualification (80%), were employed (84%) and were not concerned about the cost of their pill (65%). Most respondents (86%) obtained their information from a doctor. However, only 12% of women were aware of the danger of extending the active pill-free interval. Less than half (49%) were aware that their pill was less effective if taken more than 12 hours late and only 31% of women knew that their pill was effective again after taking seven active tablets. CONCLUSIONS: Educated, affluent women attending a private general practice lacked basic knowledge of the oral contraceptive pill. Consultations by practitioners need to be improved.
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Many contraceptives are encumbered with potentially unnecessary restrictions on their use. Indeed, fear of side effects, fostered by alarmist labeling, is a leading reason that women do not use contraceptives. In the United States, hormonal methods currently require a prescription, although research suggests that women can adequately screen themselves for contraindications, manage side effects, and determine an appropriate initiation date, leaving little need for routine direct physician involvement. Sizing, spermicidal use, and length-of-wear limits burden users of cervical barriers and may be unnecessary. Despite recent changes in the labeling of intrauterine devices, clinicians commonly restrict use of this method and in some countries may limit the types of providers authorized to insert them. Although in some cases additional research is necessary, existing data indicate that evidence-based demedicalization of contraceptive provision could reduce costs and improve access.
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We studied factors associated with oral contraceptive (OC) use among 1,855 premenopausal women who were admitted to hospital with conditions unrelated to OC use. Among this group, 15 per cent reported having used OCs within the preceding year and 35 per cent reported having last used them more than a year previously. A higher estrogenic dose (more than 60 micrograms) was reported by past users; the relationship of numerous other variables to past and present OC use is reported.
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Our knowledge about the safety, the incidence of side effects, and the effectiveness of contraceptive methods for women in premenopause, or during the last decade of their reproductive life, has not been a primary interest for research and development in fertility control. The main purpose of trials for the evaluation of new contraceptive methods is to test their effectiveness, and therefore only women below 38 years of age are accepted. Furthermore, when new methods are being tested, only healthy women are accepted, and those having health problems of almost any kind are excluded. Therefore our knowledge about the contraceptive methods in women over 40 years of age is scanty and comes from trials with a long-lasting follow-up on healthy women who can use the method without problems until they are 45 or reach menopause. We have very limited reported information on the use of contraceptives by women who have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, liver problems, etc. Therefore the main body of experience in this review comes from healthy women between 35 and 44. On the other hand, one should remember that these women have a high motivation to use contraceptive methods and therefore the continuation rate in the trials is high. This compensates for the relatively small number of acceptors by giving more women-years in follow-up. Continuation rate and the proper use of methods are directly correlated to increase in age, socioeconomical status, and to education of users. Highly educated women in this age group have very low failure rate with almost any method.
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To investigate the use of contraception in a representative sample of Norwegian women. OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency distribution of contraceptive methods by age, marital status and partly strata. MATERIAL: A sample of 4,933 women were selected at random from the Central Population Register as participants in the second Norwegian fertility study (1988). The response rate was 81% (n = 4,019) and personal interviews of contraceptive use were carried out among 2,782 women who were fecund, sexually active and not pregnant. These women comprise the study population. RESULTS: 2,782 women were sexually active during the last month prior to the interview and thus in potential need of contraception. More than 50% of the women used either oral contraceptives (21%) or IUDs (30%). The use of oral contraceptives decreased linearly with age from a user rate of 60% among women 20-24 years old to 1.5% among women 40-44 years of age. The use of IUDs increased from 6% in the youngest age group to nearly 40% among women aged 30-39 years of age. Oral contraceptives were preferentially used by childless women or those with only one child, while IUDs were most often used by women with two or more children. The sterilisation rate increased by age and in the 40-44 age group one out of every three women was sterilised. Non-use was most frequent among the subgroups of women who planned children in the future. Use of condoms and other coitus-dependent contraceptives varied less with age, marital status and parity than did the use of OC, IUDs or sterilisation. CONCLUSION: The user pattern concerning different contraceptive methods reflects the general guidelines for contraceptives in Norway. The fact that nearly 70% of the women were in one of the three categories--OC or IUD users, or one of the partners was sterilised--reveals that the awareness and knowledge of modern contraception is high in Norwegian society.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate current contraceptive practice in Sweden and Swedish women's attitudes towards various contraceptive methods. METHODS: In 1994, a random sample of Swedish women (n = 2330), aged 15-45 years (stratified according to age and geographic distribution), were invited by telephone to participate in the study. Women (n = 1788) who accepted the invitation to participate were sent a postal questionnaire. RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were returned by 1422 women (overall response rate: 61.0%). The sample was somewhat skewed towards higher educational level, but in other demographic respects no great deviations from the parent population were observed. The distribution of contraceptive methods in fertile, sexually active women who wished to avoid pregnancy was as follows: oral contraceptives (OCs) 33%, OC plus barrier method 5%, intrauterine device 21%, barrier methods 23%, sterilization 5% (female 3%; male 2%) and injectable steroids 2%. The overall pattern of contraceptive use in women aged 15-45 years had changed very little compared to results of a similar survey performed in 1987. However, the use of less effective methods (periodic abstinence, coitus interruptus and no method grouped together) was considerably lower among teenagers in 1994 (3%) than in 1987 (18%). The use of these traditional methods was still high in women aged over 35 years (15-17%). A large number of women considered medical methods of contraception to be reliable and easy to use but many were concerned about the safety for health of medical methods. CONCLUSIONS: Contraceptive practice changed towards more frequent use of medical, effective methods among young Swedish women, but not in the total female population. The latter was among others related to the relatively high use rates of less effective methods among women aged over 35. Women were concerned about the health safety of medical methods and relatively low percentages of women reported having received advice from health care professionals to use effective methods.
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