High continuation rates, even among women presenting to initiate short-acting contraception
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is highly acceptable even among women who present to initiate short-acting reversible contraception (SARC), according to a study published online Sept. 19 in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
David Hubacher, Ph.D., from FHI 360 in Raleigh, N.C., and colleagues conducted a partially randomized patient preference trial involving 916 women aged 18 to 29 years who were seeking a short-acting contraceptive method. Forty-three percent of participants were randomized to either LARC or SARC. The remaining 57 percent of women who declined randomization but agreed to follow-up were observed after choosing their preferred method.
The researchers found that the probability of continuation at 12 months was 63.3, 53.0, and 77.8 percent for the preference SARC, randomized SARC, and randomized LARC, respectively (P < 0.001 in the comparison involving randomized groups). The probability of 12-month cumulative pregnancy was 6.4, 7.7, and 0.7 percent, respectively (P = 0.01 comparing randomized groups). The proportion who were happy/neutral with their initial method was 78 percent for randomized LARC users versus 89 percent for randomized SARC users (P < 0.05). All groups were equally happy/neutral among method continuers at 12 months (>90 percent).
“Even in a typical population of women who presented to initiate or continue short-acting reversible contraception, long-acting reversible contraception proved highly acceptable,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to Bayer, Teva, and Merck, all of which contributed funding to the study.
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