RISK-FACTORS FOR TUBAL-STERILIZATION REGRET, DETECTABLE BEFORE SURGERY

Brazil has one of the highest prevalence rates of female surgical ster ilization in the would. At the same time there is an increased demand for sterilization reversal. In order so understand which women tend to later request reversal of the procedure, a case-control study was car ried out comparing 216 women who requested reversal with sterilized wo men who did not, paired by year of surgery. The relative risk of reque sting reversal for women sterilized before age 25 was 18 times that of women sterilized after age 29. The elevated risk remained even after controlling for a number of variables present at the time of surgery. Multiple regression analysis showed that request for reversal was asso ciated with younger age, less information about the procedure, and few er contraceptive methods known before sterilization. These results sup port the recommendation that women should be fully informed about the tubal ligation procedure and have access to other contraceptive option s before being sterilized. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.