BMJ 1995;311:807 (23 September)

Letters

The needs of older women are just as great

EDITOR,--The contraceptive practices of, and reasons for contraceptive failure among 629 women attending an NHS unplanned pregnancy counselling clinic in Portsmouth were surveyed between September 1994 and February 1995. Our findings are similar to those of V A H Pearson and colleagues in Devon (table), although the mean age in our study was 25.2 years (range 14-40). Both these studies are in line with previous work showing a rising association between unplanned pregnancy and use of condoms.2 3 


                                         Devon1        Portsmouth
                                          (n=167)            (n=629)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age range (years)                          13-19              14-40
No with unplanned pregnancies               147                629
Used condoms at time of
 unplanned pregnancy                      67/147 (46)       301/629 (48)
Knew why condom had failed                53/67 (79)        153/301 (51)
Using contraceptive pill at time
 of unplanned pregnancy                   45/147 (31)       134/629 (21)
Knew why pill had failed                  32/40* (80)        96/134 (72)
Patients for whom postcoital
 contraception was suitable                                 310/629 (49)
Patients who had heard of
 postcoital contraception                 . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Pregnant teenagers' knowledge and use of emergency contraception
V A H Pearson, M R Owen, D R Phillips, D J Pereira Gray, and M N Marshall
BMJ 1995 310: 1644. [Full Text]

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  • Cayley, J. (1995). Emergency contraception. BMJ 311: 762-763 [Full text]  
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