Engelsk titel: Prescribing contraception for young women
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Författare:
Skjeldestad, Finn Egil
Email: eskjelde@online.no
Språk: Nor
Antal referenser: 10
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 12027805
Sammanfattning
Background. Since 2002, specially qualified public health nurses and midwives have had the right to prescribe oral contraceptives (OCs) for women aged 16 to 19. This arrangement has since been expanded to cover hormonal contraception, with the exception of the hormonal intrauterine device (IUD). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the arrangement.
Material and method. The Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) uses pseudonyms and contains a number of facts about user, medication and prescriber. A database of women born in 1989, totalling 29,821, has been designed as unit for analysis.
Results. 75 and 79 % of the cohort had filled at least one prescription for OCs or hormonal contraception by the end of the calendar year in which they turned 19. Almost 12 % had filled at least one prescription for the mini-pill, while far fewer had filled prescriptions for the vaginal ring, contraceptive injection, contraceptive patch or hormonal IUD. Doctors issued two thirds of the prescriptions. Public health nurses wrote more prescriptions than doctors for the age group 17 - 18. The period of time during which they had been using the OCs and gestagen pills was independent on prescriber.
Interpretation. The fact that close to 80 % of the cohort born in 1989 has filled at least one prescription for hormonal contraception shows that there is a high degree of awareness about preventing unplanned pregnancy. Extending the right to write prescriptions to nurses and midwives has increased the availability of contraception, and young women are taking advantage of this option.