Reuters reports that many women are under the impression that birth control pills and condoms are more effective than they actually are.
The story says that although birth control pills and condoms are the most popular forms of reversible birth control in the country, they aren’t the most effective. The pregnancy rate with “typical use” is about nine percent per year with birth control pills, and between 18 and 21 percent with condoms.
By comparison, between 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent of women who use an intrauterine device, or IUD, will have an unplanned pregnancy within a year. But some IUDs have generated their own set of health concerns.
In a number of lawsuits against pharmaceutical giant Bayer, women who used its Mirena IUD claim the company overstated the device’s benefits in its advertising while trying to conceal some potentially dangerous side effects. Those side effects include the possibility that the device will embed itself in the uterine wall and move from its implantation site, causing organ perforation or scarring or requiring surgery to remove it.
Reuters says the Mirena IUD may also cause menstrual irregularities.
According to the story, the study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology included 4,144 St. Louis-area women who were surveyed before getting contraceptive counseling.
After being asked to rate the effectiveness of different birth control options, picking from a list of choices, 45 percent overestimated birth control pills, condoms, the hormonal patch, the hormonal vaginal ring and the injection hormone Depo-Provera.
Patients should consult their doctors before making any changes in their medication. A consultation with a Mirena lawyer is also important if surgery was required from Mirena.
See the story here:
See more about the study here:
https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378%2812%2900390-0/abstract
