TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring experiences and concerns surrounding contraceptive induced side-effects in a nationally representative sample of contraceptive users
T2 - Evidence from PMA Ethiopia
AU - Zimmerman, Linnea A.
AU - Sarnak, Dana O.
AU - Karp, Celia
AU - Wood, Shannon N.
AU - Yihdego, Mahari
AU - Shiferaw, Solomon
AU - Seme, Assefa
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported, in whole, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [INV 009,466]. Under the grant conditions of the Foundation, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License has already been assigned to the Author Accepted Manuscript version that might arise from this submission. The funder had no role in the design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Objective: Our objectives were to assess the prevalence of specific side-effects experienced by current and recent contraceptive users, describe patterns of side-effects that users were concerned about, and share measurement lessons learned. Study design: Data come from the PMA Ethiopia 2019 nationally-representative, cross-sectional survey. Our analytic sample included women who were current (weighted n = 2190; unweighted n = 2020) or recent (past 24 months; weighted n = 627; unweighted n = 622) users of a hormonal method or IUD. We provide descriptive statistics of the percentage of current/recent users who report currently/ever experiencing specific side-effects, not experiencing but being concerned about experiencing specific side-effects, and both currently experiencing and being concerned about experiencing specific side-effects. All analyses are stratified by method type (implant, injectable, pill) to explore variation by method. Results: Among current users, 648/2190 women (30%) reported experiencing any side-effect, while 252/644 (40%) of recent users reported ever experiencing any side-effect. Bleeding changes were reported most frequently and were higher among implant and injectable users. More recent users reported side-effects that were associated with physical discomfort, such as headaches, than current users. About one-third of current and recent users reported being concerned about at least one side-effect that they had not experienced, with about 15% of current and recent users reporting concerns about bleeding changes (307/2190 and 112/627, respectively) and concerns about physical discomfort (334/2019 and 98/627, respectively). Conclusions: While bleeding changes are common, users report a range of side-effects related to physical discomfort underscoring the need for comprehensive counseling. We highlight challenges in measuring side-effects using quantitative tools and pose recommendations for future research and measurement efforts. Implications:: Experiencing and fearing contraceptive-induced menstrual bleeding changes and physical discomfort, particularly headaches, is high among hormonal contraceptive and IUD users in Ethiopia. counseling that addresses an array of side-effects is needed. Additional research is also needed to disentangle the effect of experiencing versus fearing side-effects on contraceptive use.
AB - Objective: Our objectives were to assess the prevalence of specific side-effects experienced by current and recent contraceptive users, describe patterns of side-effects that users were concerned about, and share measurement lessons learned. Study design: Data come from the PMA Ethiopia 2019 nationally-representative, cross-sectional survey. Our analytic sample included women who were current (weighted n = 2190; unweighted n = 2020) or recent (past 24 months; weighted n = 627; unweighted n = 622) users of a hormonal method or IUD. We provide descriptive statistics of the percentage of current/recent users who report currently/ever experiencing specific side-effects, not experiencing but being concerned about experiencing specific side-effects, and both currently experiencing and being concerned about experiencing specific side-effects. All analyses are stratified by method type (implant, injectable, pill) to explore variation by method. Results: Among current users, 648/2190 women (30%) reported experiencing any side-effect, while 252/644 (40%) of recent users reported ever experiencing any side-effect. Bleeding changes were reported most frequently and were higher among implant and injectable users. More recent users reported side-effects that were associated with physical discomfort, such as headaches, than current users. About one-third of current and recent users reported being concerned about at least one side-effect that they had not experienced, with about 15% of current and recent users reporting concerns about bleeding changes (307/2190 and 112/627, respectively) and concerns about physical discomfort (334/2019 and 98/627, respectively). Conclusions: While bleeding changes are common, users report a range of side-effects related to physical discomfort underscoring the need for comprehensive counseling. We highlight challenges in measuring side-effects using quantitative tools and pose recommendations for future research and measurement efforts. Implications:: Experiencing and fearing contraceptive-induced menstrual bleeding changes and physical discomfort, particularly headaches, is high among hormonal contraceptive and IUD users in Ethiopia. counseling that addresses an array of side-effects is needed. Additional research is also needed to disentangle the effect of experiencing versus fearing side-effects on contraceptive use.
KW - Contraceptive side-effects
KW - Contraceptive-induced menstrual bleeding changes
KW - Ethiopia
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85127140988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.conx.2022.100074
DO - 10.1016/j.conx.2022.100074
M3 - Article
C2 - 35368853
AN - SCOPUS:85127140988
SN - 2590-1516
VL - 4
JO - Contraception: X
JF - Contraception: X
M1 - 100074
ER -