Are barrier methods protective against cervical cancer?
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · PubMed Health
Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
This report provides an update of the authors' previous estimates of first-year probabilities of contraceptive failure for all methods of contraception. Estimates are provided of failure during typical use (which includes both incorrect and inconsistent use) and during perfect use (correct use at every act of intercourse). The difference between these two probabilities provides a measure of how forgiving of imperfect use each method is. These revisions are prompted by recent studies that provide the first estimates of failure during perfect use for periodic abstinence and the cervical cap, by more complete evaluations of implants, and by the appearance of the Copper T 380A and disappearance of other IUDs from the US market. Also provided is a more complete explanation of how the previous estimate of the probability of becoming pregnant while relying solely on chance should be interpreted, and this estimate is revised slightly downward.
Abnormalities of cervical mucus can have a bearing on a woman's fertility. One means of detecting the presence of such abnormalities is the postcoital test (PCT). As part of a population-based case control study of risk factors for infertility, the reproductive, contraceptive, medical, and sexual histories of women seeking treatment for infertility who had abnormal PCT results were compared with those of fertile controls. A greater proportion of infertile women with an abnormal PCT had previously used a diaphragm than had control women (relative risk (RR) = 3.5, 95% CI = 1.1-11.3). The excess risk associated with use of a diaphragm was particularly high for women who had used one for longer than one year (RR = 7.3, 95% CI = 1.4-37.8), or within one year of attempting to conceive (RR = 5.5, 95% CT = 1.4-22.1). No increased risk was associated with the use of other barrier methods, oral contraceptives, or the intrauterine device.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The incidence of cervical cancer in Greenlandic women aged 20-39 years is nearly 6 times higher than in Danish women of the same age. Possible determinants of cervical cancer incidence were investigated in a population-based cross-sectional study. From Nuuk (Greenland) and Nykøbing Falster (Denmark) a sample of 800 women aged 20-39 years was drawn at random. A total of 586 and 661 women were studied in Greenland and Denmark, respectively. All underwent a personal interview. In Greenland, 13% of the women reported first intercourse before the age of 14 in contrast to 3.5% in Denmark, and nearly 85% of the Greenlanders had their sexual debut before the end of the 16th year of age whereas this applied to only 45% of the Danish women. The prevalence of women with 0-1 lifetime sexual partner was 20.4% in Denmark, and only 1.7% in Greenland. In contrast, 53.2% of the Greenlandic women reported more than 20 partners and 22.4% more than 40 partners. The corresponding figures for Denmark were 3.6% and 0.3%, respectively. In Greenland the most common contraceptive method was the use of intra-uterine devices (73.6%), whereas, in Denmark, oral contraceptive use was most frequent (87.9%). Few Greenlanders had ever used "barrier" contraceptives (diaphragm: 1.4%; condom: 18.1%) compared to Denmark (diaphragm: 10.1%; condom: 53.9%). As many as 87.4% were current smokers in Greenland (Denmark: 53.6%) and 5.6% claimed to have never smoked, whereas this applied to 35.3% in Denmark. The indications of a higher sexual activity (multiple partners, early age at first intercourse) in Greenland compared to Denmark are in line with the observed higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases and with the hypothesis that differences in cervical cancer incidence between Greenland and Denmark are determined by aspects of sexual background.
Use of oral contraceptives by married women declined markedly between 1973 and 1982, but analysis of data from the 1988 National Survey of Family Growth shows that this decline stopped between 1982 and 1988. Reliance on female sterilization continued to increase, however, and it remained the leading method among currently married and formerly married women. Among women of all marital statuses, IUD use dropped by two-thirds between 1982 and 1988, from 2.2 million to 0.7 million women. As the proportion of less-educated, low-income, black and Hispanic contraceptive users choosing the IUD decreased, the proportion relying on female sterilization increased. Among college-educated white women, use of female sterilization did not increase; instead, pill use rose in this group. Condom use increased most sharply among teenagers and rose among never-married white and black women, but the pill was still the leading method by far in these groups, regardless of race. Among never-married black women, reliance on sterilization increased significantly between 1982 and 1988, with female sterilization becoming the second leading method. Use of the diaphragm declined sharply over the same period among never-married white women and among those who intended to have more children, as did use of periodic abstinence (rhythm and natural family planning) and foam.
A reanalysis of data from two clinical studies--in which 1,439 women were randomly assigned to use either the contraceptive sponge or the diaphragm and 1,394 women were randomly assigned to use either the cervical cap or the diaphragm--found first-year probabilities of failure during typical use of 17% for the sponge, 18% for the cervical cap and 13-17% for the diaphragm. The first-year probabilities of failure during perfect use are 11-12% for the sponge, 10-13% for the cervical cap and 4-8% for the diaphragm. The probability of failure during perfect use is significantly higher among women who have given birth than among those who have not for users of the sponge (19-21% vs. 9-10%) and users of the cervical cap (26-27% vs. 8-10%), but not for users of the diaphragm.
Little attention has been paid to the diaphragm as a contraceptive option for adolescents. To compare diaphragm and birth control pill use by adolescents, 124 females (aged 13-20 years) in a suburban-based adolescent health service were interviewed at least one year after receiving a contraceptive prescription. The 73 diaphragm choosers did not differ from the 51 pill choosers in age, race, or reason for their original visit to the health service. Diaphragm choosers, however, were better students, of higher socioeconomic status, and had had fewer prior pregnancies. In the year following prescription, continuous use for 12 months was reported by 43% of diaphragm choosers and 45% of pill choosers, with significantly more pill (26%) than diaphragm (8%) choosers reporting discontinued use for at least one month while remaining sexually active. Regular use (diaphragm every intercourse, missing less than or equal to 1 pill/month) was reported by 36% of diaphragm choosers compared to 88% of pill choosers; and at least one pregnancy during the year was reported by 15% of diaphragm choosers and 18% of pill choosers. At follow-up interviews, diaphragm subjects disliked the immediate annoyances of the diaphragm, and pill users expressed concern about the potential side effects of the pill. No single factor or set of factors correlated with continuous and regular use of either method. Because both methods present specific problems for certain patients, we suggest that in addition to the pill, the diaphragm should receive serious consideration as a contraceptive option for adolescents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
OBJECTIVE: To see whether the use of oral contraceptives influences mortality. DESIGN: Non-randomised cohort study of 17,032 women followed up on an annual basis for an average of nearly 16 years. SETTING: 17 Family planning clinics in England and Scotland. SUBJECTS: Women recruited during 1968-74. At the time of recruitment each woman was aged 25-39, married, a white British subject, willing to participate, and either a current user of oral contraceptives or a current user of a diaphragm or intrauterine device (without previous exposure to the pill). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall mortality and cause specific mortality. RESULTS: 238 Deaths occurred during the follow up period. The main analyses concerned women entering the study while using either oral contraceptives or a diaphragm or intrauterine device. The overall relative risk of death in the oral contraceptive users was 0.9 (95% confidence interval 0.7 to 1.2). Though the numbers of deaths were small in most individual disease categories, the trends observed were generally consistent with findings in other reports. Thus the relative risk of death in the oral contraceptive users was 4.9 (95% confidence interval 0.7 to 230) for cancer of the cervix, 3.3 (95% confidence interval 0.9 to 17.9) for ischaemic heart disease, and 0.4 (95% confidence interval 0.1 to 1.2) for ovarian cancer. There was a linear trend in the death rates from cervical cancer and ovarian cancer (in opposite directions) with total duration of oral contraceptive use. Death rates from breast cancer (relative risk 0.9; 95% confidence interval 0.5 to 1.4) and suicide and probable suicide (relative risk 1.1; 95% confidence interval 0.3 to 3.6) were much the same in the two contraceptive groups. In 1981 the relative risk of death in oral contraceptive users from circulatory diseases as a group was reported to be 4.2 (95% confidence interval 2.3 to 7.7) in the Royal College of General Practitioners oral contraception study. The corresponding relative risk in this study was only 1.5 (95% confidence interval 0.7 to 3.0). CONCLUSIONS: These findings contain no significant evidence of any overall effect of oral contraceptive use on mortality. None the less, only small numbers of deaths occurred during the study period and a significant adverse (or beneficial) overall effect might emerge in the future. Interestingly, the mortality from circulatory disease associated with oral contraceptive use was substantially less than that found in the Royal College of General Practitioners study.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The contraceptive options suitable for teenagers are presented and discussed. Condoms have the advantage of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and oral contraceptives are probably the most effective in preventing pregnancy. Other options include the barrier contraceptives available to women, spermicides, sponges, intrauterine devices, periodic abstinence, and the morning after pill.
Cholic acid (sodium cholate) exhibits a strong spermicidal and antiviral [anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1] activity. The same effects are observed for F-5 Gel, the active mixture of a new contraceptive sponge (Protectaid), which contains sodium cholate in association with low concentrations (0.5%) of nonoxynol-9 and benzalkonium chloride. Both cholic acid and the F-5 Gel exert a dose-dependent, in-vitro inhibitory effect (i) on the activity of HIV-1 associated reverse transcriptase in an acellular system and (ii) on the potential of HIV-1 efficiently to infect human lymphocytes. During 12 months use, the contraceptive efficacy of the 'Protectaid' sponge was 100% in 20 young women who had chosen this method for reasons of both contraception and anti-sexually transmitted disease. No side-effects were recorded throughout this period. Cervical cultures at 6-month intervals showed the presence of Mycoplasma hominis and Candida albicans in one or two cases. The combined spermicidal and anti-HIV properties of cholic acid reported in this paper and used in the 'Protectaid' sponge offer a new and modern protective method of contraception.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Of two-hundred-sixty women seeking cervical cap contraception, exactly half subsequently used the Prentif cavity rim cap as their sole method of contraception. The one year continuation rate for these exclusive cap users was 56.7 per hundred. No major side effects related to the use of the Prentif cap were observed in the course of this study, involving 918 women-months in year 1. Pregnancy and dislodgement of the cap during use were the principal reasons for discontinuation of exclusive use, with gross rates of 19.1 and 12.9 per 100 at one year, respectively.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.