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Family Practice Vol. 20, No. 4, 493
© Oxford University Press 2003

Correspondence

Factors influencing contraceptive use in Tehran

Evagelia Paraskevopoulou, Larissa Raymond and Pippa Oakeshott

St George’s Hospital Medical School London SW17 0RE, UK.

Correspondence to Evagelia Paraskevopoulou, 2 Brookes Court, Longley Road, Tooting, London SW17 9LF, UK; E-mail: ms004673{at}sghms.ac.uk

Tehrani et al. found that age, education and familiarity with contraceptive methods influenced contraceptive use in Iranian women attending hospitals.1 We decided to examine factors affecting knowledge and use of the emergency contraceptive pill in British Family Planning Clinic attendees. In October 2002, we handed out confidential questionnaires to consecutive women aged under 45 attending three family planning clinics in South-West London. The response rate was 92% (105/114). The mean age was 26 years (range 17–44). Despite the very different settings, we similarly found that older women were less familiar with the existence and use of the emergency contraceptive pill. Only 40% (8/20) of women aged >=30 had used the emergency contraceptive pill compared with 69% (51/76) of women aged <30 (P < 0.02). Also, women who had taken the emergency contraceptive pill were more likely to know for up to how many hours after unprotected sex hormonal emergency contraception is effective than those who had never used it [94% (58/62) compared with 69% (29/42), P < 0.001].

These findings are in line with the much large survey of 2000 women by Smith et al.2 The most common provider of the emergency pill given by women in our study was their GP (69%, 72/105). Although, in the UK, preventing teenage pregnancy is a priority, our results suggest that GPs should also be aware of the need for education about the emergency contraceptive pill to prevent unwanted pregnancies in older women.

References

1 Tehrani FR, Farahani FKA, Hashemi MS. Factors influencing contraceptive use in Tehran. Fam Pract 2001; 18: 204–208.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2 Smith B, Gurney E, Aboulela L, Templeton A. Emergency contraception: a survey of women’s knowledge and attitudes. Br J Obstet Gynecol 1996; 103: 1109–1116.[Medline]


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This Article
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