Artikel
Drug utilization patterns for oral contraceptives use in adolescents and adults in Europe
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Autoren
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Kristina Bardenheuer
- ZEG – Berliner Zentrum für Epidemiologie und Gesundheitsforschung, Berlin
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Jürgen Dinger
- ZEG – Berliner Zentrum für Epidemiologie und Gesundheitsforschung, Berlin
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Janko Leddin
- ZEG – Berliner Zentrum für Epidemiologie und Gesundheitsforschung, Berlin
| Veröffentlicht: | 20. September 2011 |
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Gliederung
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Background: Oral contraceptives (OCs) are a very popular method of reversible birth control. Because of the easy administration and additional beneficial effects, OCs are widely used by adolescents as well as adults. The International Active Surveillance Study - Safety of COntraceptives: Role of Estrogens (INAS-SCORE) is conducted in 7 European countries and the USA.
Objectives: To assess additional reasons - other than contraception - for OC use in European adolescents and adults, who are representative of the actual user population.
Methods: The INAS-SCORE study is a prospective, controlled, non-interventional cohort study, which started in seven European countries (Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK) in 2009. Women being prescribed a new OC are recruited by a network of prescribing physicians. Baseline information includes questions on a variety of data, e.g. information about demographic data, history of OC use and reason(s) for which the OC was prescribed.
Results: Until now, 9,493 women were enrolled into this study, of which 1,247 are girls below 18 years of age. Overall, 47.6% of the adolescents (55.6% of the adults) state to have only birth control reasons for the OC prescription, 9.9% (5.5% of the adults) have only non-contraceptive reasons and 42.5% (37.9% of the adults) use the prescribed OC because of the additional benefits. The non-contraceptive reasons mentioned most frequently include painful bleeding (37.8% of the adolescents, 28.3% of the adults), acne (24.3% adolescents, 21.8% adults), cycle regulation (19.7% adolescents, 26.3% adults), heavy/prolonged bleeding (11.6% adolescents, 13.6% adults) and PMS/PMDD (3.4% adolescents and 6.7% adults). Recruitment is still ongoing. Updated results will be presented at the meeting.
Conclusions: Overall, about half of the European adolescents and adults use OCs not only for birth control, but also for possible additional benefits. OC use exclusively for non-contraceptive reasons is twice as high in adolescents as in the adult population. The reasons for prescription vary in adolescents and adults.
