A 5-YEAR ANALYSIS OF MENSTRUAL BLEEDING PATTERNS IN NORPLANT USERS

The present study was performed to analyse objectively the patterns of menstrual bleeding in Singaporean women using Norplant contraceptive implants over a five-year period. A total of 100 women were recruited into the study and the continuation rate at the end of the five years was 59 per cent. Only 14 women discontinued for menstrual reasons and they did so within the first 18 months of insertion. Continued use of Norplant was associated with increasingly acceptable menstrual bleedin g. A normal bleeding pattern was seen in only 5.1 per cent of users in the first three months of use-at the end of five years of use 57.6 pe r cent had normal menstruation. While irregular periods was the common est form of menstrual abnormality, infrequent periods and amenorrhoea were distinctly uncommon in Singaporean users.