Voluntary sterilization in Eastern and Central Europe: changes are coming.
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Data on patterns and trends in sterilisation in Britain among women, men and couples are presented using life table approaches with data from a national survey, the General Household Survey. Among couples under age 50, sterilisation is the main method of contraception used, with slightly more women than men being sterilised, although this is reversed if only contraceptive sterilisation is considered. Trends in contraception have remained relatively constant in recent decades. Patterns of sterilisation differ following births of different orders. For example, the resort to sterilisation is much quicker after a third birth than after a second. The proportions of men and women who have been sterilised and then formed a subsequent partnership are very small, so the effect of sterilisation in preventing births in such unions is negligible.
Elective sterilization started to spread rather late in Flanders. Despite the sharp increase of this contraceptive method since the end of the 1970s, its frequency is still lower than in many neighbouring countries and much lower than in the US and Canada, mainly due to the lag in male sterilization. Further increase in contraceptive sterilization and a greater participation of men is expected in the near future.
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Male and female sterilization is a safe and effective form of permanent contraception. The number of patients accepting this method has rapidly increased over the last ten years and is likely to continue. In some countries the rate has plateaued out: in the USA it has been 31 per cent of all married women for the last eight years. Before sterilization it is important that adequate counselling is given to both partners and that the decision is not hurried. This is emphasized by the number of women and men requesting reversal of sterilization (thought to be between 0.1 and 10 per cent of all sterilizations). These requests for reversal usually come from couples who have remarried, tend to be younger, have fewer live children, have had more abortions, less schooling and are poor users of contraception. In these high-risk patients counselling and time to make the decision is essential. Other studies indicate that regret after puerperal sterilization may be commoner, but the risks of further pregnancies have to be weighed against sterilization regret. The methodology of male sterilization has changed little in the last ten years; it is simple and usually done under local anaesthesia. In contrast, female sterilization methods are constantly being refined, from laparotomy to laparoscopy and from extensive tubal destruction or excision to minimal tubal damage. The common methods now are mini-laparotomy and laparoscopy under local or general anaesthesia, with tubal occlusion by clips, rings or bipolar or thermal coagulation. There is no place now for unipolar diathermy, because of the higher complication rate, especially for major complications such as bowel burns. Recent multicentre studies comparing different methods give low rates for immediate morbidity and surgical complications (0.8 to 2.5 per cent of cases). Technical failure is rare but often due to a pre-existing condition, for example obesity or previous pelvic disease. Some failures are due, however, to difficulties with the instruments, especially at laparoscopy; here further developments and the use of teaching aids for those in training will help to reduce problems. Mortality from female sterilization is low, at 2 to 10 per 100 000 procedures; however, half is due in part to anaesthetic complications (hypoventilation), which can be avoided by intubation, and others are due to pre-existing medical conditions. Long-term follow-up has now shown that sterilization does not cause an increase in menstrual blood loss.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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Both as the result of liver disease and of alcoholism per se, chronic alcoholics develop infertility, sterility, gonadal atrophy, hypoandrogenization, and feminization. The hypothalamic-pituitary abnormalities associated with alcoholism include hyperprolactenemia-increased estrogen-stimulated neurophysin levels, suppressed secretion of plasma gonadotropins, and loss of gonadotropin reserve. Several of the possible mechanisms potentially responsible for the development of these endocrine abnormalities have been discussed. The rational for suspecting that alcohol might interfere with either vitamin A metabolism of alter the redox state of the testes, thus affecting germ cell proliferation and steroidogenesis, has been presented. A possible mechanism for the sexual changes observed in chronic alcoholic men has been proposed. Much work remains to be done in this area before a complete understanding of the pathogenesis of these phenomena is obtained. The omission of any consideration of the effects of alcohol on sexual function in women is an admission of gross ignorance greatly in need of rectification. The necessity for couching a description of even the natural history of the syndrome in alcoholic men in conditional terms is a reflection of the limited state of the art. Nevertheless, it behooves the gastroenterologist, who is frequently called upon to be the primary physician for alcoholic men, to keep abreast of the nongastrointestinal medical consequences of alcohol addiction so that they can be recognized early and incorporated into long range medical planning designed to care for the chronic alcoholic patient.