Uptake of the most effective long-acting reversible contraception methods immediately after abortion reduces women’s risk of other abortions. Researchers did his study to compare the uptake of LARC at abortion services from a hospital department of obstetrics and gynecology and a specialist contraceptive setting of a community SRH service within the same city.
Researchers assessed a retrospective database review of 2473 women requesting abortion at either a community SRH service or a hospital department of obstetrics and gynecology in the same UK city over one year. The primary outcome measures were immediate post-abortion uptake of LARC from each site.
A higher proportion of women assessed at the SRH service received LARC after abortion than those attending the hospital site. Amongst women having an outpatient early medical abortion, LARC uptake at the SRH was twice that of the hospital setting.
The present study observed higher uptake of immediate post-abortion LARC amongst women assessed at the specialist contraceptive service in the community SRH setting compared to the hospital setting. Further research is required to determine the reasons for these observations since all abortion services should provide the same high-quality contraceptive service.
Reference: https://srh.bmj.com/content/43/1/31
