Introduction Eighty per cent of contraceptive care occurs in the general practice setting. UK Medical Eligibility Criteria provides clear guidelines for the safe provision of appropriate contraception. The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence offer further recommendations for initiation and continuation of the combined contraceptive...

Background Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) contraceptive use is associated with an increased risk for Chlamydia infection. However, prior studies inadequately account for potential differences in sexual behavior between users of DMPA and users of other contraceptive methods. In this study we compare sexual risk-taking behavior in women using DMPA to women using oral contraceptive pills...

Contraceptive failure and the progestogen-only pill The case report by Chandler and Nash1 in this issue of the Journal is interesting and highlights the need for trials of hormonal contraceptive use to include obese women. The authors acknowledge that despite an apparent association between contraceptive failure and higher body weight in studies of a Norplant® prototype and a levonorgestrelrele...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes in haemostasis in the three months immediately after stopping the combined contraceptive pill. DESIGN Prospective randomised study. SETTING Family planning centre in London. SUBJECTS 24 women aged 35-45 investigated before, during, and after six months' use of combined oral contraceptives containing 30 micrograms ethinyl oestradiol together with the pr...

O N  June  the United States celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the approval of Enovid, the first oral contraceptive.1 From the time of the first clinical trials to the present, nearly  million women have swallowed various formulations of the contraceptive pill, making it one of the most widely consumed class of drugs in the world. By the end of the twentieth century oral contracep...

CONTEXT Studies suggest that women in some countries have adopted emergency contraceptive pills as a routine method of family planning. This practice indicates there may be latent demand for a pericoital contraceptive pill taken only when a woman has sexual intercourse, and labeled and marketed for use as a regular contraceptive method. METHODS To understand the appeal and potential market fo...