CONTEXT Current debates on how to reduce the high U.S. abortion rate often fail to take into account the role of unintended pregnancy, an important determinant of abortion. METHODS Data from the 1982, 1988 and 1995 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth, supplemented by data from other sources, are used to estimate 1994 rates and percentages of unintended birth and pregnancy and the p...

BACKGROUND We aimed to assess the recent incidence trends of ectopic pregnancies (EP) in France (1992-2002). METHODS A population-based register of all women aged 15-44 years with EP was set up in Auvergne (central France). We calculated rates of EP as a 'reproductive failure' or as a 'contraceptive failure', frequencies of exposure to the two main risk factors for EP (cigarette smoking and c...

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are increasingly recognised throughout Australia as important, but preventable, disorders that result in lifelong problems with health and learning, mental health, behaviour and substance misuse. The role of this article is to highlight current efforts, which are in their infancy, to recognise and prevent FASD in Australia. A federal parliamentary inquiry...

One method of assessing biologic fertility is to measure time to pregnancy (TTP). Accidental pregnancies do not generate a valid TTP value and lead to nonrandom missing data if couples experiencing accidental pregnancies are more fertile than the general population. If factors affecting the rate of accidental pregnancies, such as availability of effective contraception and induced abortion, var...

BACKGROUND In 1999, the UK Labour Government launched a 10-year Teenage Pregnancy Strategy for England to address the country's historically high rates and reduce social exclusion. The goal was to halve the under-18 conception rate. This study explores how the strategy was designed and implemented, and the features that contributed to its success. METHODS This study was informed by examinatio...

BACKGROUND To determine whether patients with placenta previa who delivered preterm have an increased risk for recurrent spontaneous preterm birth. METHODS This retrospective population based cohort study included patients who delivered after a primary cesarean section (n = 9983). The rate of placenta previa, its recurrence, and the risk for recurrent preterm birth were determined. RESULTS ...

Tubal sterilization is an increasingly common method of contraception. Although pregnancy after sterilization is uncommon, it can occur and may be ectopic. It is widely believed that any pregnancies after tubal sterilization will generally occur during the first year or two year after the procedure. Surprisingly, failures are not limited to the first year or two, but continued to appear at each...

Unintended pregnancies are associated with unsafe abortion and greater risk of maternal morbidity and maternal deaths. In Bangladesh, approximately one-third of pregnancies are unintended. Considering the magnitude of the situation and its consequences, this article explores factors associated with the prevalence of unintended pregnancies in rural Bangladesh with implications for policy interve...

BACKGROUND A single 10 mg dose of mifepristone, and two 0.75 mg doses of levonorgestrel 12 h apart, are effective for emergency contraception. Because no studies had compared the efficacies of both compounds, or investigated a single dose of 1.5 mg levonorgestrel, we undertook this three-arm trial. METHODS We did a randomised, double-blind trial in 15 family-planning clinics in 10 countries. ...

One of the signature public health achievements in the United States in recent years has been the decline in both the teen pregnancy and the teen birth rates. Between 1990 and 2004, the teen pregnancy rate declined 38% [1]; in a similar trend, the teen birth rate declined 31% between 1991 and 2006 [2]. This change was remarkably widespread; significant declines were documented in all states and...