Loading...
Efficacies of the contraceptive patch and oral contraceptives (OCs) are generally considered to be similar. In a population-based study (sponsored by the manufacturer of the patch) designed to compare unintended pregnancy rates in women using the patch or OCs, researchers identified 375,000 women in the U.K. who had received at least one prescription for hormonal contraceptives from January 2003 through March 2007. Unintended pregnancy cases were verified by medical record review; questionnaires were sent to a sample of general practitioners to obtain additional information on cases.
Most women received prescriptions for second-generation OCs (64%), followed by progestin-only OCs (23%), third-generation OCs (13%), and the patch (0.6%). Among…