Hormonal contraceptive use in Norway, 2006-2020, by contraceptive type, age and county: A nationwide register-based study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v29i1-2.4046Abstract
Aim: Our aim was to study hormonal contraceptive use among women in Norway during 2006-2020 according to age groups and geography, including choice of contraceptive method, type of prescriber for long-acting reversible contraceptives, and prescriber’s adherence to the national health authority recommendations.
Material and methods: We conducted a nationwide drug utilization study including all women aged 16-49 years in Norway during 2006-2020. The Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) includes detailed information about all dispensed prescription medications from Norwegian pharmacies to individuals in ambulatory care, including year of dispensing, patient’s year of birth and county of residence, and the prescriber’s profession.
Results: This study shows a slight increase in overall use of hormonal contraceptives among 16-49-year-olds during 2006-2018, increasing from 36% of the population to 40%. Combined oral contraceptives (COCs) was the most commonly used hormonal contraceptive method in all age groups. The use of COCs decreased during the period and the decline was greatest in those below 25 years. From 2016 80% of all new users of COCs received the recommended COC containing levonorgestrel. Use of estrogen-free contraceptives, long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) and gestagen pills, has increased. After 2014 the use of LARCs, especially subdermal implant, increased steeply among younger women. Oslo had the lowest proportion of users of hormonal contraceptives among teenagers and young adults during the whole period, while among 30-49-yearolds Oslo was more in line with the other counties.
Conclusion: Combined oral contraceptives (COC) was the most used hormonal contraceptive method in all age groups. However, the use of COCs decreased during the period, especially in those < 25 years, where a corresponding increase in the use of LARC has taken place, mainly from 2014 onwards. Four out of five women who initiated COC received the recommended COC type and the steep increase in use of estrogen-free LARCs in recent years implies that Norwegian prescribers have high compliance with the recommendations from the health authorities.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Kari Furu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Norsk Epidemiologi licenses all content of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This means, among other things, that anyone is free to copy and distribute the content, as long as they give proper credit to the author(s) and the journal. For further information, see Creative Commons website for human readable or lawyer readable versions.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
