Why do depo-provera users discontinue?

الملخص EN

Objective: To analyze Depo-Provera users’ behaviors regarding discontinuation and to explore what other methods of contraception are used after discontinuation.

The side effects in relation to age, parity and the duration of using the method are also explored.

Methods: A retrospective study of 177 women who used Depo-Provera at our family planning clinics in the south of Jordan (Princess Haya Military Hospital and Ministry of Health) between 1997 to 2005 was done.

Patients were analyzed and tabulated according to age, parity, duration of using injectables, side effects, and contraceptive behavior after method discontinuation in relation to side effects.

Results: Out of 177 women who used Depo-Provera, 57 (32%) continued to use it, while 120 (68%) women stopped the method.

Of these 120 women 30 (25%) discontinued Depo-Provera as a contraceptive method because of their desire to get pregnant, 84 (70%) women stopped the method because of its variable side effects, three (2.5%) women stopped the injections due to personal reasons such as husbands request, one woman (0.8%) was pregnant (method failure), and two women (1.7%) due to no need for further contraception as one became a widow the other was divorced.

Depo-Provera related side effects included amenorrhea in 41 women (49%), prolonged period seven women (8%), irregular period eleven women (13%), weight gain in five women (6%), breast discomfort in thirteen women (16%), headache in four women (5%), and abdominal pain one woman (1%) out of a total 84 women.

More than two thirds of the women (n=84, 70%) had side effects in the form of menstrual cycle disorders (amenorrhea and polymenorrhea), but amenorrhea alone was observed to form almost half of this percentage in Depo-Provera users.

Conclusion: Although Depo-Provera is safe and has a high efficacy when used as a contraceptive method, the majority of women discontinue it due to undesired side effects which can be tolerated if users receive proper counseling and treatment.

Consequently, this will encourage women not to discontinue the method and therefore the hazards of unplanned pregnancy will be decreased.