Predictors of analgesia use during supervised medical abortion

The object of this analysis was to identify predictors of narcotic analgesi c use during medical abortion. A total of 2121 women with pregnancies of le ss than or equal to 63 days gestational age received 600 mg mifepristone fo llowed 48 h later by 400 mu g oral misoprostol in a single arm clinical tri al perfomed at 17 centers in the US. We tested the effects of subject chara cteristics at baseline and study centers on the use of tiny narcotic analge sics on the day of misoprostol use. Overall, 27% of subjects received narco tic analgesics. The main determinant of narcotic analgesic use was the stud y center. The relative risk of using narcotic analgesics increased with ges tational age; the relative risk decreased in women with previous births, an d also decreased with increasing age of the woman receiving treatment. It i s concluded use of narcotic analgesia during medical abortion is least like ly among older, parous women at low gestational uses; however, the clinic p roviding care for the patient was the most important determinant of who rec eived narcotic analgesia. CONTRACEPTION 2000;61: 225-229 (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.