PREGNANCY COMPLICATIONS IN NATURAL FAMILY-PLANNING USERS

A multicenter cohort study was designed to assess pregnancy outcome am ong natural family planning (NFP) users, and provide the opportunity t o address complications in NFP users by planning status and by timing of conception with respect to day of ovulation. There were 877 singlet on births in this sample. Complications evaluated were abnormal vagina l bleeding, urinary tract infection, vaginal infection, hypertension o f pregnancy, proteinuria, glycosuria, and anemia. There was no signifi cant difference in the mean age, number of prenatal visits or birth we ight among optimally and non-optimally timed pregnancies or for planne d and unplanned pregnancies. There were higher incidences of ''parity 2 or more'' and current smokers in the non-optimally timed pregnancies and lower incidences of prior pregnancy loss and ''currently employed '' in the non-optimally timed pregnancies. There was little difference in pregnancy complications with respect to pregnancy timing, with the exception of a significant increased risk of vaginal bleeding late in pregnancy among non-optimally timed conceptions (11.5%) compared to o ptimally timed pregnancies (5.2%, RR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.3-3.7). More diff erences were observed in pregnancy complication rates by planning stat us. Unplanned pregnancies were associated with significantly more late pregnancy bleeding, vaginal infections, proteinuria, glycosuria and m edication use than planned pregnancies. Unplanned pregnancies had lowe r incidences of maternal anemia. Complications of pregnancy were low i n this NFP population, irrespective of planned versus unplanned status . Women with planned pregnancies had even fewer complications during p regnancy than women with unplanned conceptions, suggesting that women using NFP to plan their reproduction may be at particularly low risk.