Emergency contraceptives bring a little peace of mind.
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The use of available oral contraceptive agents for emergency contraception has been judged safe and effective by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration and other agencies. Yet implementation by physicians has been limited, and only a small percentage of women take advantage of this option each year. Lack of a specially packaged--and marketed--product for this indication has been a major barrier.
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Choosing the appropriate type of contraception should be decided by the healthcare professional and the patient. The author presents three unique and different cases, including insightful discussions, that should provide insight and possibly some creative solutions to some of today's contraceptive questions.
Every year in the United States, there are an estimated 3.5 million unplanned pregnancies with nearly one third of these attributed to contraceptive failures. Despite the availability of effective contraceptive methods, far too many women still experience unwanted pregnancies. It has been estimated that emergency contraception, also referred to as postcoital contraception or "the morning after pill," can reduce the risk of pregnancy after unprotected intercourse by as much as 75%. When administered within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, emergency contraception, inhibits implantation of a fertilized ovum. The most common method of emergency contraception, the administration of ethinyl estradiol and dL-norgestrel, was initially described by Yuzpe in 1977. In the past 20 years, multiple studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of commonly prescribed combination oral contraceptives containing ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel. For those women in whom estrogen is contraindicated, progestin-only pills or the synthetic androgen Danazol have been used with comparable effectiveness rates. For appropriately selected women, an intrauterine device such as the Paraguard T380A (Ortho Pharmaceuticals, Raritan, NJ) also may be inserted within 5-7 days after unprotected intercourse to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy. Despite its success and safety, emergency contraception is underused by women and their health care providers. As providers of comprehensive health care, midwives should provide patients with accurate information concerning pregnancy prevention. For many women, obtaining emergency contraception is an entry into the health care system and provides them an opportunity to be educated about safer sex practices, contraception, and the importance of regular health screening. Regularly discussing emergency contraception with patients at routine health visits will enable them to participate fully in their health care decisions and diminish the physical, psychological, and societal stressors associated with unplanned pregnancy.
Approximately 60% of all pregnancies are unintended at the time of conception, either unwanted or mistimed. Emergency contraception (i.e., use of a birth control method after intercourse has occurred) is a preventive treatment that has been underutilized. Six brands of oral contraceptives have recently been found by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be safe and effective as emergency contraceptive pills. These pills have been shown to reduce the likelihood of pregnancy occurring by at least 74%. Treatment with emergency contraceptive pills should be initiated within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. Adverse effects include nausea, vomiting headache, and a change in menstrual bleeding patterns. Postcoital insertion of an intrauterine device is also highly effective as a postcoital contraceptive, but only in a select group of patients at low risk for sexually transmitted diseases. Promotion of access to emergency contraception includes educating both patients and providers about the method and making emergency contraceptive pills available to patients even before the need arises.
Many biomedical aspects of emergency contraception have been investigated and documented for >30 years now. A large number of social science questions, however, remain to be answered. In this article, we review the rapidly growing but geographically lopsided literature on this topic. Using computer database searches supplemented by reference reviews and professional correspondence with those active in the field, we gathered literature on the social science and service delivery aspects of emergency contraception published in English up through December 1998, as well as a few unpublished papers from the same time and slightly later, representing regions where published material is practically nonexistent. Methodologically acceptable papers are summarized in our tables and text, and form the basis for suggested improvements in existing emergency contraceptive services. The review also offers ideas for designing new emergency contraception services where they do not yet exist. We conclude by proposing an agenda for further social science research in this area.
We performed a multivariate analysis to determine factors associated with knowledge and willingness to use emergency contraception in a consecutive sample of 371 post-partum women from an inner-city public hospital. Women were queried about previous contraceptive use, pregnancy history including abortions and unplanned pregnancies, and demographic characteristics. Outcomes included knowledge of emergency contraception and willingness to use it. Questionnaires were conducted in person, in English or Spanish.Of 371 women, 3% had used emergency contraception, 36% had heard of it, and 7% knew the correct timing for use. Two-thirds of the population indicated a willingness to use emergency contraception in the future. Factors positively associated with knowledge included being a teenager or more than 30 years old, prior use of condoms, and history of an elective abortion. Being multiparous, monolingual Spanish-speaking, or Asian were negatively associated with knowledge. Willingness to use emergency contraception was positively associated with being multiparous and negatively associated with a higher income, moral or religious objections to the use of emergency contraception, a belief that it is unsafe or a perception that it is an abortificient. Knowledge about emergency contraception, especially correct timing, remains low. Multiparous women should receive increased education given their lack of knowledge but willingness to use emergency contraception. In order to increase the acceptability of emergency contraception, educational efforts must include accurate information about its mechanism of use and safety.
The purpose of this study was to provide new estimates of the effectiveness of the Yuzpe method of emergency contraception and to offer correctly computed estimates of the confidence intervals for estimated effectiveness rates. Through a literature search, seven studies that present the number of women treated and outcome of treatment by cycle day of unprotected intercourse relative to expected day of ovulation were identified. Probabilities of conception by cycle day of intercourse among women not using contraception and the associated variance-covariance matrix from five other datasets were estimated, and these external estimates were used to assess the effectiveness of the Yuzpe regimen. The 40 estimates of effectiveness, based on seven separate studies and the seven studies combined and five different sets of conception probabilities by cycle day, ranged from a low of 44.2% to a high of 88.7%. The preferred point estimate is that emergency contraceptive pills reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75.4%, with a 95% confidence interval extending from 65.6% to 82.4%. True effectiveness is likely to be at least 75% because treatment failures (observed pregnancies) include women who were already pregnant when treated and women who became pregnant after being treated.
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