Reasons for contraceptive discontinuation in women 20-39 years old in New Zealand

To estimate the frequency and the medical and nonmedical reasons for discon tinuation of oral contraceptive (OC), intrauterine device (IUD), and inject able depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) use, data from a cohort of ex perienced contraceptive users in New Zealand are re ported. The current ana lysis consists of 2469 OC, 2072 IUD, and 1721 DMPA users followed over a pe riod of 5 years. The percentage of women who discontinued the use of the me thod within 24 months after entry into the cohort were 42%, 44%, and 48%, r espectively, for OC, IUD, and DMPA: these differences were not statisticall y significant. The most common reasons given for discontinuing a contracept ive method, regardless of which method was in use, were the desire to conce ive, patient preference, no longer needing contraception, and vasectomy. Am ong the medical reasons, menorrhagia and intermenstrual bleeding were the r easons for discontinuing use of the method in 1.5 and 1.1 times per 100 wom en-years among DMPA users and in 1.8 and 4.7 times per 100 women-years amon g OC users. pelvic pain and infection were reasons for discontinuing contra ceptive method, respectively, 4.4 and 4.3 times per 100 women-years among I UD users. In conclusion, the present study confirms, in this New Zealand po pulation, the high discontinuation rate of contraceptive methods reported e lsewhere. In contrast with previous suggestions, in this study, irregular b leeding was not an important medical reason for discontinuation of DMPA use . CONTRACEPTION 1999;59:227-231 (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights r eserved.