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Erschienen in: Journal of General Internal Medicine 8/2017

21.04.2017 | Original Research

Unintended Pregnancy and Contraceptive Use Among Women Veterans: The ECUUN Study

verfasst von: Sonya Borrero, MD, MS, Lisa S. Callegari, MD, MPH, Xinhua Zhao, PhD, Maria K. Mor, PhD, Florentina E. Sileanu, MS, Galen Switzer, PhD, Susan Zickmund, PhD, Donna L. Washington, MD, MPH, Laurie C. Zephyrin, MD, MPH, MBA, FACOG, E. Bimla Schwarz, MD, MS

Erschienen in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Ausgabe 8/2017

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Abstract

Background

Little is known about contraceptive care for the growing population of women veterans who receive care in the Veterans Administration (VA) healthcare system.

Objective

To determine rates of contraceptive use, unmet need for prescription contraception, and unintended pregnancy among reproductive-aged women veterans.

Design and Participants

We conducted a cross-sectional, telephone-based survey with a national sample of 2302 women veterans aged 18–44 years who had received primary care in the VA within the prior 12 months.

Main Measures

Descriptive statistics were used to estimate rates of contraceptive use and unintended pregnancy in the total sample. We also estimated the unmet need for prescription contraception in the subset of women at risk for unintended pregnancy. For comparison, we calculated age-adjusted US population estimates using data from the 2011–2013 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).

Key Results

Overall, 62% of women veterans reported current use of contraception, compared to 68% of women in the age-adjusted US population. Among the subset of women at risk for unintended pregnancy, 27% of women veterans were not using prescription contraception, compared to 30% in the US population. Among women veterans, the annual unintended pregnancy rate was 26 per 1000 women; 37% of pregnancies were unintended. In the age-adjusted US population, the annual rate of unintended pregnancy was 34 per 1000 women; 35% of pregnancies were unintended.

Conclusions

While rates of contraceptive use, unmet contraceptive need, and unintended pregnancy among women veterans served by the VA are similar to those in the US population, these rates are suboptimal in both populations, with over a quarter of women who are at risk for unintended pregnancy not using prescription contraception, and unintended pregnancies accounting for over a third of all pregnancies. Efforts to improve contraceptive service delivery and to reduce unintended pregnancy are needed for both veteran and civilian populations.
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Metadaten
Titel
Unintended Pregnancy and Contraceptive Use Among Women Veterans: The ECUUN Study
verfasst von
Sonya Borrero, MD, MS
Lisa S. Callegari, MD, MPH
Xinhua Zhao, PhD
Maria K. Mor, PhD
Florentina E. Sileanu, MS
Galen Switzer, PhD
Susan Zickmund, PhD
Donna L. Washington, MD, MPH
Laurie C. Zephyrin, MD, MPH, MBA, FACOG
E. Bimla Schwarz, MD, MS
Publikationsdatum
21.04.2017
Verlag
Springer US
Erschienen in
Journal of General Internal Medicine / Ausgabe 8/2017
Print ISSN: 0884-8734
Elektronische ISSN: 1525-1497
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-017-4049-3

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