Trends of contraception use among married reproductive age women: Tehran lipid and glucose cohort study 2002-2011.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the trends of contraception use among married reproductive age women in Tehran Lipid and Glucose study between 2002 and 2011.

METHODS: This analysis investigated a proportion of women users and non-users of family planning, using data from 10year population-based Tehran Lipid Glucose Study from surveys conducted in 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2011. Of the 6813, 6993, 7077, and 6789 women in the four phases mentioned, 34.1%, 33.9%, 33.5% and 35% of participants in each phase preferred to use contraception. Number of participants studied were 2506 women in 2002, 2529 women in 2005, 2594 women in 2008 and 2525 women in 2011.

RESULTS: Types of methods and patterns of change in contraception differed across time. The percentage of women using traditional methods increased significantly from 25.7% in 2002 to 34.6% in 2011 (p value for trend=0.001). Accordingly, modern contraception use showed a reverse trend. From 2002 to 2011, 61.4%, 61%, 57.7%, and 51% of married women reported currently using various modern contraceptives, respectively (p value for trend=0.001). The proportion of users relying on condoms showed a significant increase during this decade, being 10.9% in 2002, 15.2% in 2005, 20% in 2008 and 21.9% in 2011. The prevalence of non-users for contraception was generally low; 12.7%, 8.2%, 8% and 14.3%, respectively from 2002 to 2011, but increased significantly across time (p=0.005) CONCLUSION: Relying on less effective contraceptive methods has increased rapidly among women in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose cohort study, a trend that could be a warning to policy makers about the possibility of higher unsafe abortion and maternal mortality/morbidity rates in the near future.