Oral contraceptive discontinuation: a prospective evaluation of frequency and reasons

OBJECTIVES

Our purpose was to define the frequency and reasons for oral contraceptive discontinuation and subsequent contraceptive behavior.

STUDY DESIGN

A nationwide prospective study of 1657 women initiating or switching to the use of a new contraceptive from private practices, clinics, and a health maintenance organization was performed.

RESULTS

Six months after a new oral contraceptive prescription, 68% of new starts and 84% of switchers still used oral contraceptives. Of women who discontinued, 46% did so because of side effects, whereas 23% had no continuing need. More than four fifths of women who discontinued oral contraceptives but remained at risk of unintended pregnancy either failed to adopt another method or adopted a less effective method. Fifteen percent of women who discontinued oral contraceptives resumed their use within the 7-month follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS

Counseling should emphasize the possibility of side effects, stressing the fact that most will be transient, and the need to identify a backup method. Follow-up visits should be scheduled for 1 to 2 months after a prescription is written.

Characteristics of women who stop using contraceptives

A relatively new multivariate life-table technique has permitted the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on first-year contraceptive failure rates to be determined to a greater degree of precision than was possible in the past. This technique is employed in this article to determine the one-year rates of contraceptive discontinuation among currently married U.S. women, using data from the 1973 and 1976 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG). The results indicate that poor women, black women and younger women are all relatively more likely to stop using contraceptives for reasons other than method-switching or the desire to become pregnant, as are women who have not completed high school, Catholic women and those who have never had a birth. Of all methods, the IUD is associated with the lowest rate of discontinuation. Pill users over age 30 are more likely to stop using their method than are comparable women using the IUD, diaphragm or condom. Women relying on spermicides are generally most likely to cease using a method. Finally, the subgroups of women who are most likely to stop using a particular method also are generally the groups that are most likely to experience contraceptive failures, while those that are least likely to discontinue use are also least likely to fail. Two exceptions are women who rely on rhythm and those who use the pill. The former experience relatively high rates of failure but are relatively less likely to stop using the method, and the latter have relatively high rates of discontinuation despite a low rate of failure.