Sexual activity and contraceptive use during social distancing and self-isolation in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objectives: The aims of the study were to investigate the effects of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of hormonal contraceptives, their discontinuation and the risk of unplanned pregnancy. Methods: The study enrolled 317 women listed in the database of the Department of General Surgery and Medical-Surgical Specialties, University of Catania, Italy, family planning clinic who were known to be using hormonal contraceptives. The women were contacted by telephone and asked whether they would like to participate in the study. If they agreed, they were then emailed a questionnaire about their social behaviour and sexual activity during the pandemic, according to their cohabiting status, i.e., whether they were continuing to use their hormonal contraception and whether they had had an unplanned pregnancy. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 175 (81.8%) women who were using short-acting reversible contraception (SARC) and by 90 (87.4%) women who were using long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). All married and cohabiting women were continuing to use their contraceptive method. None had had an unplanned pregnancy. On the other hand, 51 (50.5%) non-cohabiting or single women had discontinued their SARC method while social distancing, for nonmethod-related reasons; however, 47 (46.5%) non-cohabiting or single women had continued their sexual activity, infringing social distancing rules, and 14.9% had had an unplanned pregnancy, for which they had sought a termination. Conclusion: Several non-cohabiting women using SARC had discontinued their contraceptive method during the pandemic but had continued to engage in sexual activity and had had an unplanned pregnancy. Clinicians should counsel women about what they should do in regard to contraception in the event of new, future social distancing measures.

Impact of the Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic in the Use of Combined Hormonal Oral Contraception in Spain – Results of a National Survey: Encovid

“…In a study conducted in Italy in which information was collected from 317 women who used hormonal contraception before confinement authors found that all the women who lived with their partner during the confinement period continued to use their hormonal method, including those who used COC, while those women who did not live with their partner were more likely to abandon the hormonal method they used. 6 In this study, the determining factor for the continuity of use was living with the partner, rather than age. In this case, the mean age of the sample was 26.8 years, while in our study it was 32 years.…”

The impact of disasters on contraception in OECD member countries: a scoping review

“…Demand and usage of contraception. Nineteen articles [21,34,75,[98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113], eleven of which were original research studies [21,34,99,101,103,[106][107][108][109][110]113], considered how demand for contraception changed. There was conflicting evidence on whether the Zika outbreak led to increased demand for contraception [21,34,110].…”

“…Similarly, while some women reported that they wanted to delay childbearing during the COVID-19 pandemic and considered use of LARC, others did not change their views [75]. However, contraceptive usage during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic appears to differ amongst married and cohabiting women and non-cohabiting and single women [113]. While married and cohabiting women appear to be more likely to continue their contraception, non-cohabiting and single women were more likely to discontinue contraception [113].…”

“…However, contraceptive usage during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic appears to differ amongst married and cohabiting women and non-cohabiting and single women [113]. While married and cohabiting women appear to be more likely to continue their contraception, non-cohabiting and single women were more likely to discontinue contraception [113]. While some non-cohabiting and single women who stopped their contraception followed social distancing, others continued their sexual activity, infringed social distancing rules and had unplanned pregnancies [113].…”

“…Contraceptive choice. Twenty-four articles [24,27,39,40,57,58,67,[113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126], sixteen of which were original research studies [24,58,66,67,75,[113][114][115][116]118,120,[122][123][124][125][126][127], gave insight into contraceptive choice. A number of commonly used hormonal contraceptives (e.g., ring, patch, emergency contraception, IUD) were reported to be absent from the military formulary in the US [27], limiting the choice of contraceptive options for servicewomen.…”