ENG implants are employed as contraception in early postpartum patients. Follow-up is often not conducted by the hospital prescriber.
Researchers did this study to determine if Implanon’s early postpartum insertion for contraception was associated with a significant difference in lochia duration. They also aimed to record the number of patients who went on to have their Implanon removed during the study period and the removal reasons.
The present study is a prospective cohort study of one hundred and fifty-two postpartum patients from a tertiary maternity unit. The treatment group was women requesting Implanon before discharge. Controls were recruited from the same team over the same period to match the birth weight and parity.
There were seventy-three controls and seventy-nine women who had early postpartum Implanon inserted. Fourteen patients in the treatment group had their Implanon removed during the postpartum study period. In all of these cases, the reason for removal was bleeding disturbance. There was no significant difference in the duration of lochia between the groups.
The study concluded that Implanon’s early postpartum insertion for contraception was not associated with a statistically or clinically significant difference in the duration of lochia.
Reference: https://srh.bmj.com/content/42/3/187
