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Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe

Numerous studies have been published suggesting that emergency contraception (EC) is used repeatedly, but a lack of information regarding the profile of users makes it difficult to evaluate actual consumer habits. The aim of this study was to obtain information regarding the profile of users who obt...

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Autores principales: Jambrina, Anna M., Rius, Pilar, Gascón, Pilar, Armelles, Mercè, Camps-Bossacoma, Mariona, Franch, Àngels, Rabanal, Manel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8269101/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34201980
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm10132793
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author Jambrina, Anna M.
Rius, Pilar
Gascón, Pilar
Armelles, Mercè
Camps-Bossacoma, Mariona
Franch, Àngels
Rabanal, Manel
author_facet Jambrina, Anna M.
Rius, Pilar
Gascón, Pilar
Armelles, Mercè
Camps-Bossacoma, Mariona
Franch, Àngels
Rabanal, Manel
author_sort Jambrina, Anna M.
collection PubMed
description Numerous studies have been published suggesting that emergency contraception (EC) is used repeatedly, but a lack of information regarding the profile of users makes it difficult to evaluate actual consumer habits. The aim of this study was to obtain information regarding the profile of users who obtain EC and other factors that might play a role, and to provide criteria to evaluate and improve the strategies of current contraceptive programs. This was an observational one-year study based on surveillance data on the provision of EC to women of reproductive age in 60 community pharmacies in Catalonia, Spain. In total, 941 notifications of dispensation of EC in Catalonia were received. A total of 44.2% of users said it was not the first time that they had taken the medication (repeat user). The percentage of users who used condoms was lower in repeat users compared to first-time users (56.7% vs. 64.4%, p < 0.05). A total of 25.7% of users stated that they did not use any barrier contraceptive method. The use of natural methods in repeat users was 53.8% in the subgroup who requested the medication after 48 h, significantly higher than in users who obtained the medication within the first 24 h (p < 0.05). A high percentage of repeat users with risky sexual behaviors were detected, suggesting that new measures must be implemented to provide information for this method, together with educational and preventive strategies.
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spelling pubmed-82691012021-07-10 Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe Jambrina, Anna M. Rius, Pilar Gascón, Pilar Armelles, Mercè Camps-Bossacoma, Mariona Franch, Àngels Rabanal, Manel J Clin Med Article Numerous studies have been published suggesting that emergency contraception (EC) is used repeatedly, but a lack of information regarding the profile of users makes it difficult to evaluate actual consumer habits. The aim of this study was to obtain information regarding the profile of users who obtain EC and other factors that might play a role, and to provide criteria to evaluate and improve the strategies of current contraceptive programs. This was an observational one-year study based on surveillance data on the provision of EC to women of reproductive age in 60 community pharmacies in Catalonia, Spain. In total, 941 notifications of dispensation of EC in Catalonia were received. A total of 44.2% of users said it was not the first time that they had taken the medication (repeat user). The percentage of users who used condoms was lower in repeat users compared to first-time users (56.7% vs. 64.4%, p < 0.05). A total of 25.7% of users stated that they did not use any barrier contraceptive method. The use of natural methods in repeat users was 53.8% in the subgroup who requested the medication after 48 h, significantly higher than in users who obtained the medication within the first 24 h (p < 0.05). A high percentage of repeat users with risky sexual behaviors were detected, suggesting that new measures must be implemented to provide information for this method, together with educational and preventive strategies. MDPI 2021-06-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8269101/ /pubmed/34201980 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm10132793 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Jambrina, Anna M.
Rius, Pilar
Gascón, Pilar
Armelles, Mercè
Camps-Bossacoma, Mariona
Franch, Àngels
Rabanal, Manel
Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe
title Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe
title_full Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe
title_fullStr Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe
title_full_unstemmed Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe
title_short Characterization of the Use of Emergency Contraception from Sentinel Pharmacies in a Region of Southern Europe
title_sort characterization of the use of emergency contraception from sentinel pharmacies in a region of southern europe
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8269101/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34201980
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm10132793
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