ARTICLE AUTHORS
ARTICLE INFO

Popular Contraceptive Methods in Women Aged 35 Years and Older Attending Health Centers of 4 Cities in Khuzestan Province, Iran

AUTHORS

Sedighe Nouhjah 1 , * , Elham Amiri 1 , Azim Khodai 1 , Azar Yazdanpanah 1

1 Health Research Institute, Diabetes Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran

How to Cite: Nouhjah S, Amiri E, Khodai A, Yazdanpanah A. Popular Contraceptive Methods in Women Aged 35 Years and Older Attending Health Centers of 4 Cities in Khuzestan Province, Iran, Iran Red Crescent Med J. Online ahead of Print ; 15(10):4414. doi: 10.5812/ircmj.4414.

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal: 15 (10); 4414
Published Online: October 4, 2013
Article Type: Research Article
Received: February 7, 2012
Accepted: July 28, 2013
DOI : 10.5812/ircmj.4414
Crossmark

Crossmark

CHEKING

READ FULL TEXT
Abstract

Background: The prevalence of unintended pregnancy and associated risks are higher in late reproductive years. Limited studies have focused on contraceptive choices in these women. The aim of the study was to identify contraceptive choices and their related factors in women 35 years or older attending health centers of Khuzestan province.

Objectives: Additionally, several line of evidence indicated relationship between increasing maternal age and poor pregnancy outcomes (1, 2). Pregnancies above the age of 35 are accompanied with more risks for complication related to pregnancy as compared to younger women (3-5). Risk of spontaneous abortion is 74.4% in mothers aged 45 years or more.

Patients and Methods: In a cross-sectional study 1584 women aged 35 years and older attending public health centers of four cities of Khuzestan were studied. We used an interviewer-administered questionnaire for data collection. Women investigators were recruited for interview and filling the questionnaire. Participants were assured of the confidentiality of their responses.

Results: The mean age of women was 39.8 4.2 years. The most popular contraceptive methods used in this age group were oral contraceptive pills (31.4%), condom (28.1%), and tubal ligation (14.8%). Less effective contraceptive methods were used in 41.5% of women. Significant associations were found between the use of effective methods and literacy of husband (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.75, 0.91), city of residence (OR = 0, 92, 95%CI: 0.87-0.97), women age (OR = 0.97, 95% CI; 0.94-0.99), and women education (OR = 0.87, 95%CI: 0.76-0.99) (P < 0.01).

Conclusions: In spite of risk of pregnancy and unintended pregnancy in this age group, about a half of them used less effective contraceptive methods, hence family planning education, and counseling to older women should be a priority in health centers.

Keywords

Contraception Community Health Center Pregnancy Unplanned

© 2013, Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.

Full Text

Full text is available in PDF

COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT HERE: