INTRODUCTION Use of hormonal contraceptives for birth control is commonplace in the Western World. In Europe, there is considerable variety in the frequency of use of hormonal contraceptives and in the age at which these contraceptives are initiated. The purpose of the present study was to describe the use of hormonal contraceptives among the Danish adolescent female population, focusing on age...

INTRODUCTION In 2016, Volta Region was one of the two regions in Ghana that recorded a high prevalence of teenage pregnancy, accounting for 15.5% of all adolescent pregnancies in the country. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of contraceptive methods accessed by person, place, and time in Volta Region, Ghana, 2009-2014. METHOD We carried out a secondary analysis of contraceptive us...

Dysmenorrhea is a common menstrual complaint with a major impact on women's quality of life, work productivity, and health-care utilization. A comprehensive review was performed on longitudinal or case-control or cross-sectional studies with large community-based samples to accurately determine the prevalence and/or incidence and risk factors of dysmenorrhea. Fifteen primary studies, published ...

The 'unmet' need for reproductive health care in India requires a wide demand net. Besides 'supply' of oral contraceptives, condoms and IUDs, the 'non-supply' approach for increasing contraceptive prevalence is recommended through education about the variety of safe contraceptives and awareness in the use of traditional methods. Expansion of education is partly responsible for the recent declin...

As in other developing countries, contraceptive use among adolescents is low and only one in twenty adolescents is reported to use contraceptives in Kenya. Pregnancies early in life expose adolescents to health complications. Establishing perceptions that affect contraception and factors that influence those perceptions is important in developing appropriate programs and policies to increase co...

CONTEXT Although Russian women have adequate knowledge of modern contraceptives, their level of use of these methods has been low, and abortion rates remain relatively high. METHODS In 1994-2003, sexually active women aged 18-49 were interviewed about their contraceptive use as part of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey. Trends in contraceptive use were examined. Multivariate analyses ...

OBJECTIVES This study examines the impact of an intervention to promote dual-method contraceptive use among HIV concordant and discordant couples already using condoms for HIV prevention. METHODS A three-armed randomized, controlled trial was conducted at a voluntary HIV testing and counseling clinic in Lusaka, Zambia; 251 couples were randomized. Control couples received family planning educ...

CONTEXT Negative myths and misconceptions about family planning are a barrier to modern contraceptive use. Most research on the subject has focused on individual beliefs about contraception; however, given that myths spread easily within communities, it is also important to examine how the prevalence of negative myths in a community affects the aggregate level of method use. METHODS Baseline ...

Although oral contraceptives are protective for ovarian cancer, it is unclear how long this protection persists. The authors prospectively assessed this question as well as associations of other, less studied contraceptive methods (tubal ligation, rhythm method, diaphragm, condoms, intrauterine device, foam, spousal vasectomy) and infertility with ovarian cancer risk among 107,900 participants ...