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Feasibility of a self-completed history questionnaire in women requesting repeat combined hormonal contraception

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To measure agreement between the client's and the clinician's responses to questions regarding client history as answered on a questionnaire based on the UK Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (UKMEC) for combined hormonal contraception (CHC). Clients aged 18 years and over, attending a central London community contraceptive clinic requesting a repeat supply of CHC, completed a history questionnaire and an evaluation form. Clinicians then completed their copy of the same questionnaire during the consultation. Percentage agreement and the Kappa statistic were used to assess the level of client-clinician agreement. Data from 328 client-clinician pairs were analysed. Agreement was above 93% for all identified risk factors. There was complete agreement for thrombosis, diabetes, stroke, cancer and liver problems. Least agreement was noted in the recording of migraine and abnormal bleeding. For all risk factors except smoking, the proportion of clients reporting a risk factor was more than the proportion of clinicians reporting a risk factor. No clinically important information relevant to a particular client's use of CHC was missed and none of them would have been wrongly prescribed the CHC based just on their self-completed questionnaires. Most women (97%) were happy with this method of history taking. A self-completed history questionnaire is acceptable to women and can potentially replace traditional routine medical history taking for continuing CHC. Women completed the questionnaire with a high degree of reliability. There was complete client-clinician agreement on UKMEC Category 4 criteria. Overall, clients reported more risk factors than clinicians, which increases the safety of the questionnaire.
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Abstract
Objective To measure agreement between the client’s
and the clinician’s responses to questions regarding
client history as answered on a questionnaire based
on the UK Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive
Use (UKMEC) for combined hormonal contraception
(CHC).
Methods Clients aged 18 years and over, attending a
central London community contraceptive clinic
requesting a repeat supply of CHC, completed a history
questionnaire and an evaluation form. Clinicians then
completed their copy of the same questionnaire during
the consultation. Percentage agreement and the Kappa
statistic were used to assess the level of client–clinician
agreement.
Results Data from 328 client–clinician pairs were
analysed. Agreement was above 93% for all identified
risk factors. There was complete agreement for
thrombosis, diabetes, stroke, cancer and liver problems.
Least agreement was noted in the recording of migraine
and abnormal bleeding. For all risk factors except
51
©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2008: 34(1)
Introduction
The combined hormonal oral contraceptive pill (COC) is
the most commonly used method of contraception in the
UK, used currently by 24% of all women aged 16–49
years.
1
Women requesting repeat prescriptions of the COC
constitute the major part of contraceptive workload in
primary care, both in community contraceptive clinics and
in general practice.
2
Ways of improving the management of
COC users’ care are needed to ensure safe, efficient and
accessible service provision.
The World Health Organization Medical Eligibility
Criteria for Contraceptive Use (WHOMEC) provides clear
evidence-based recommendations on the selection of the
most appropriate method of contraception. Services can
use these criteria to develop guidelines for delivery of
contraceptives locally.
3
Family Health International have
used them to develop checklists to initiate COCs in
Feasibility of a self-completed history questionnaire in
women requesting repeat combined hormonal
contraception
Jagruti S Doshi, Rebecca S French, Hannah E R Evans, Christopher L Wilkinson
ARTICLE
Margaret Pyke Centre, London, UK
Jagruti S Doshi, MRCOG, MFFP, Subspecialty Trainee, Sexual and
Reproductive Healthcare
Centre for Sexual Health and HIV Research, Department of
Primary Care and Population Sciences, Margaret Pyke
Centre, London, UK
Rebecca S French,
MSc, Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Sexual Health and HIV Research, Department of
Primary Care and Population Sciences, Mortimer Market
Centre, London, UK
Hannah E R Evans,
BSc, Statistician
Margaret Pyke Centre and Mortimer Market Centre,
London, UK
Christopher L Wilkinson,
MBBS, FFFP, Consultant
Correspondence to: Dr Jagruti Doshi, Margaret Pyke
Centre, 73 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PL, UK.
E-mail: jsdoshi@doctors.org.uk
smoking, the proportion of clients reporting a risk factor
was more than the proportion of clinicians reporting a
risk factor. No clinically important information relevant to
a particular client’s use of CHC was missed and none of
them would have been wrongly prescribed the CHC
based just on their self-completed questionnaires. Most
women (97%) were happy with this method of history
taking.
Conclusions A self-completed history questionnaire is
acceptable to women and can potentially replace
traditional routine medical history taking for continuing
CHC. Women completed the questionnaire with a high
degree of reliability. There was complete client–clinician
agreement on UKMEC Category 4 criteria. Overall,
clients reported more risk factors than clinicians, which
increases the safety of the questionnaire.
Keywords client history, hormonal contraception,
questionnaire survey, risk factors
J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2008; 34(1): 51–54
(Accepted 8 July 2007)
community-based programmes to increase the quality of
services and care and to increase women’s access to
contraceptives.
4
The UK Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive
Use (UKMEC) were developed from the WHO document
in 2005.
5
These criteria are classified into four categories,
ranging from UKMEC 1 – a condition for which there is no
restriction for the use of the contraceptive method (e.g.
parity) to UKMEC 4 a condition which represents an
unacceptable health risk if the contraceptive method is used
(e.g. thrombosis). History taking and appropriate
examination allow clinicians to assess medical eligibility
for COC use. The medical and family history should alert
the clinician to conditions or risk factors that might be a
strong or absolute contraindication to COC use. A woman
with multiple risk factors may need to avoid COC use,
although individual risk factors would not necessarily
contraindicate use. Blood pressure and body mass index
(BMI) should be documented for all women before a first
prescription of COC
6
and at follow-up.
In this article we describe the use of a history
questionnaire for established users of combined hormonal
contraception (CHC), which includes COCs and the
contraceptive patch. The aim of this study was to determine
Key message points
A self-completed history questionnaire is a reliable and
acceptable method of recording client history prior to
continuing combined hormonal contraception.
Except for smoking, clients reported more risk factors
than the clinicians.
Questions on a clinical outcome or disease that generate
discrete responses yield a greater agreement between
the client and the clinician than do questions on
behaviour.
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whether a self-completed history questionnaire was a safe
and acceptable way of obtaining relevant information from
clients before continuing their CHC.
Methods and analysis
This study was carried out at a central London community
contraceptive clinic. During the study period of 1–31
October 2006, all women who were existing service users
established on CHC and requesting repeat supplies were
approached to participate in the study. To evaluate the
accuracy of a self-completed history, a one-page
questionnaire was designed for the women to complete
prior to seeing the clinician (Figure 1). This questionnaire
was informed by the UKMEC.
5
A short evaluation of the
self-completed history method was included in their
questionnaire. A questionnaire with the same history
checklist was also designed for the clinicians. The
clinician’s questionnaire formed part of the client’s case
notes. This included documentation of the client’s blood
pressure and BMI. Any specific comments or
documentation of any other service provided at that visit
was done on the back of the clinician’s copy of the
questionnaire.
Clients aged 18 years and over requesting repeat
supplies of their CHC, and who were proficient in English
and able to complete the questionnaire without the help of
an interpreter, were given an information sheet describing
the study by the reception staff. Following their verbal
consent to participate, clients were asked to complete the
questionnaire and return it to the receptionist. The client
was then seen by the clinician, who took their history,
completed their copy of the questionnaire and performed
the consultation as usual. The clinician was unaware of the
responses the client had made. The clinician’s
questionnaire was photocopied and linked with the client’s
copy for comparison. The client’s clinic number was on
both questionnaires so that their notes could be examined if
there were any inconsistencies between the client and
clinician questionnaires.
Questionnaire data were entered into and analysed
using SPSS (v.12) (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
Univariate descriptive statistics were created to describe
the proportions of the client and clinician responses to each
of the risk factors. Agreement between the client and the
clinician was measured using percentage agreement and
the Kappa statistic. The Kappa statistic allows us to
measure agreement above and beyond that expected by
chance alone. A Kappa value of one is where there is
complete agreement and a value of zero is where there is no
more agreement than would be expected by chance alone.
7
A negative Kappa statistic can result if agreement occurs
less often than predicted by chance alone. Agreement was
defined as either a yes–yes or a no–no client–clinician
response to each question. In order to assess safety, we
wished to obtain 100% agreement for UKMEC 3/4 criteria
and over 90% agreement for UKMEC 1/2 criteria.
Ethical approval
The study proposal was reviewed and approved by the
Camden and Islington Community Local Research Ethics
Committee. This research study was also registered with
the North Central London Research Consortium
(NoCLoR).
Results
During the study period, 370 clients met the inclusion
criteria and were given the information sheet describing the
study. One client declined to participate. Forty-two
questionnaires were excluded from the analysis for the
following reasons: five women left the clinic before being
seen, four client-completed questionnaires were lost, nine
women attended the clinic for other reasons therefore the
clinician did not complete a questionnaire and in 23 cases
the clinicians used routine notes to document the
consultation instead of completing the questionnaire. The
results are therefore based on the analyses of 328 pairs of
client–clinician questionnaires.
Table 1 shows the frequency of risk factors identified
by clients and clinicians and their level of agreement. Ten
percent of clients were aged 35 years or more. The risk
factor most commonly reported was smoking. UKMEC 4
criteria were less reported, as would be expected of
established CHC users. There was complete agreement in
risk factors of thrombosis, diabetes, stroke, cancer and liver
problems. Agreement was above 93% for all the identified
risk factors. Migraine and abnormal bleeding were the risk
factors where the proportion of client–clinician agreement
was the least. For all risk factors except smoking, the
proportion of clients reporting a risk factor was more than
the proportion of clinicians reporting a risk factor.
Where the client reported a risk factor but the clinician
did not, it was unlikely to affect the repeat prescription of
the CHC as these clients would be seen by the clinicians to
discuss their history further. However, where the client did
52
©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2008: 34(1)
Doshi et al.
Question Yes No
1. Have you read and understood the information
sheet given?
2. Are you aged 35 years or over?
3. Do you smoke?
4. Do you have any abnormal vaginal bleeding, for
instance after sex or at a time when you should
not bleed?
5. Have you had or do you currently have any of the
following medical conditions:
Migraine
High blood pressure
Thrombosis (blood clots in legs or in lungs)
Diabetes
Stroke
Heart disease
Cancer
6. Do you currently have or have you had since
your last visit any of the following conditions:
Liver problems or jaundice
Breast problems
Abnormal smear (Pap) test
Any other serious illness
7. Have you had a pregnancy since your last
visit here?
8. Have your mother, father, brother or sister had
stroke, heart attack or thrombosis when they
were under the age of 46?
9. Do you have more than one relative (any type)
who has had stroke, heart attack or thrombosis
when he/she was under the age of 46?
10. Are you taking St John’s wort or any other
regular medications?
11. Have you ever been advised not to use the
combined pill/patch?
12. Would you like to discuss other methods of
contraception such as long-acting methods that
you do not have to remember to take each day?
13. Do you want to see a doctor or nurse for any
other reason apart from more pills/patches?
Evaluation Form
1. Were the questions easy to understand and
answer?
2. If not, which question was difficult?
3. Would you be happy with this method of
recording your history?
4. Comments:
Figure 1 Questionnaire for clients requesting repeat supplies of
combined hormonal oral contraceptive pill/patch
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not identify a risk factor but the clinician did, a risk factor
could be missed if the self-history method were to be
adopted. In these cases, we looked into any comments
made by the client or the clinician and at the client’s case
notes to establish the cause for disagreement. In all such
cases no clinical contraindication to CHC for that particular
client was missed. The disagreement was noted to be more
in subjective or open-ended questions. For example,
clinicians identified women who smoked occasionally as
‘smokers’ while the clients had not identified themselves as
a smoker. Similarly, in cases of abnormal bleeding the
client did not identify occasional breakthrough bleeding
with late or missed pills as abnormal. Removal of a benign
spinal tumour was marked as a serious illness by the
clinician but not by the client. Referral for termination of
pregnancy at her last visit was reported as a pregnancy by
the clinician but not by the client. One client taking
Roaccutane
®
did not report this as taking medication.
Nine clients were not prescribed their CHC. This was
for reasons such as wanting other contraceptive methods or
having side effects associated with the use of CHC.
Table 2 shows the results of the clients’ evaluation of
this method of history taking.
Discussion
Our study sample included clients already established on
CHC. This is an important population to study, as new
health problems can develop over time and can affect the
safety of ongoing contraceptive use. In our study, critical
medical history questions that would affect the prescription
of the CHC such as stroke, thrombosis, diabetes, cancer
and liver problems obtained 100% agreement. All risk
factors had more than 93% client–clinician agreement.
Women could understand the questions and found this
method of recording history acceptable. Overall, clients
were more likely to report a risk factor than the clinician,
which increases the safety of the questionnaire. In all cases
of disagreement it was confirmed from the client’s case
notes that no clinically important information relevant to
that particular client’s use of the COC was missed. None of
these 328 patients would have been wrongly prescribed the
COC based just on their self-completed questionnaires.
Subjective questions like smoking, migraine and
abnormal bleeding generated more disagreement. Whilst
this may not prohibit CHC use for most women (in this
study it did not affect any of the respondents getting the
CHC), it will be relevant to some women, particularly if
they have other risk factors.
5,8
Six clients who smoked only
occasionally did not identify themselves as smokers.
Similarly, three clients did not report a history of simple
migraine. This may have been because of the way the
questions were worded. This illustrates that questions need
to be carefully worded to identify all women with any of
the risk factors. For example, a better wording for the
question on smoking may be: ‘Have you smoked at all in
the last year?’ A better way of asking a question on
migraine may be to actually describe a migraine headache.
A study done in the USA on self-completed
questionnaires amongst women aged 15–45 years attending
family planning clinics for a variety of reasons has reported
similar areas of disagreement. In the USA study, questions
that in general generate discrete responses (e.g. presence or
absence of gall bladder disease) yielded the highest
agreement. Conversely, questions regarding more
subjective queries such as menstruation patterns or
smoking habits generated greater disagreement.
9
We did not collect any sociodemographic data such as
the level of education, income and parity as our aim was to
53
©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2008: 34(1)
Self-completed history questionnaire for repeat CHC
Table 1 Risk factors identified by combined oral contraceptive users and clinicians
Risk factor Valid Clients Clinicians Client Client Agreement
b
Kappa
pairs
a
reporting reporting marked marked [n (%)]
risk factor risk factor yes, no,
[n (%)] [n (%)] clinician clinician
marked no marked yes
[n (%)] [n (%)]
Age 35 years 328 33 (10.0) 34 (10.4) 0 1 (0.3) 327 (99.7) 0.98
Smoking 325 72 (22.1) 77 (23.7) 1 (0.3) 6 (1.8) 318 (97.8) 0.939
Abnormal bleeding 324 35 (10.8) 32 (9.9) 8 (2.5) 5 (1.5) 311 (95.9) 0.784
Migraine 326 39 (11.9) 23 (7.0) 19 (5.8) 3 (0.9) 304 (93.3) 0.611
High blood pressure 319 3 (0.9) 3 (0.9) 2 (0.6) 2 (0.6) 315 (98.7) 0.327
Thrombosis 321 0 0 0 0 321 (100.0) NA
e
Diabetes 322 1 (0.3) 1 (0.3) 0 0 322 (100.0) 1
Stroke 322 0 0 0 0 322 (100.0) NA
e
Heart disease 322 1 (0.3) 0 1 (0.3) 0 321 (99.7) NA
e
Cancer 322 0 0 0 0 322 (100.0) NA
e
Liver problems 324 0 0 0 0 324 (100.0) NA
e
Breast problems 323 2 (0.6) 1 (0.3) 1 (0.3) 0 322 (99.7) 0.665
Serious illness 322 0 1 (0.3) 0 1 (0.3) 321 (99.7) NA
e
Pregnancy 323 0 1 (0.3) 0 1 (0.3) 322 (99.7) NA
e
Immediate family history
c
326 10 (3.0) 6 (1.8) 4 (1.2) 0 322 (98.7) 0.744
More than one relative
d
326 9 (2.7) 4 (1.2) 6 (1.8) 1 (0.3) 319 (97.8) 0.452
Medication 323 9 (2.8) 6 (1.9) 5 (1.5) 2 (0.6) 316 (97.8) 0.523
Ever advised not to use COC 325 9 (2.8) 5 (1.5) 6 (1.8) 2 (0.6) 317 (97.5) 0.417
a
Number of cases where the question was answered by both (i.e. the client and the clinician).
b
Agreement on these questions was based on the number of yes–yes/no–no client–clinician responses.
c
Have your mother, father, brother or sister had a stroke, heart attack or thrombosis under the age of 46?
d
Do you have more than one relative (any type) who has had a stroke, heart attack or thrombosis under the age of 46?
e
Kappa cannot be calculated if the table is not balanced, for example, either the client or the clinician never uses one of the categories (either
yes or no).
NB. Although the number of clinicians and clients reporting a risk factor may be similar they may not be matched pairs and hence the Kappa.
COC, combined oral contraceptive; NA, not available.
Table 2 Clients’ evaluation of method
Client response Valid (n) Yes (%)
Read and understood information sheet 319 99.7
Questions easy to understand 322 98.4
Happy with method 319 96.9
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assess use of this questionnaire in routine practice, amongst
all clients attending the service, rather than to investigate
the effects sociodemographic data have on the levels of
agreement. The USA study, however, found no statistical
difference in agreement between the responses in
subgroups of age, income, education and prior
contraceptive use.
9
Another important consideration is to ensure there is
standardisation of what is being measured. For example,
clinicians may differ in their criteria for a diagnosis of
hypertension.
10
Surprisingly, despite clear local guidelines,
both the cases in our study where the clinician reported
high blood pressure as a risk factor had neither a history of
hypertension nor elevated blood pressure readings
documented in the client case notes.
As the questionnaires were linked to and part of the
case notes, the person responsible for data collection and
analysis (JSD) was not blinded to which clinician saw each
client. This is a limitation of our study as, for example,
assumptions could be made on the accuracy of risk factor
identification depending on the level of a clinician’s
experience.
Benefits of a self-completed questionnaire include
increased client participation during the history taking
process, more complete client records, standardisation in
the recording of client information, minimal interview bias
and the clinician identification of additional medical
problems that may not be noted during a consultation.
11
It
can make it easy to audit the service guidelines and enable
a long-term research study on changes in health in long-
term CHC users. For women established on CHC with no
risk factors, a self-taken history can speed up consultations.
There is also scope to develop roles for health care
assistants. They could record the client’s blood pressure
and BMI, check the self-completed history questionnaire,
and if there is no indication to refer to a doctor or a nurse,
then they could issue the CHC to clients under patient
group direction. Our study showed that it is feasible to
record history this way and that it is acceptable to clients.
Conclusions
A self-completed history questionnaire could be a valuable
tool to potentially improve the care given to established
CHC users in contraceptive clinics. Our study has shown
that clients can complete a history questionnaire with a
high degree of reliability. Discrete questions that ask about
a clinical outcome, a disease or whether an event has
occurred (e.g. thrombosis) rather than a behaviour (e.g.
smoking) or a symptom (e.g. menstrual bleeding patterns)
yield a greater agreement between the client and the
clinician. In further research, subjective history questions
should be worded in such a way as to obtain an
unambiguous yes/no answer. Further work needs to assess
the impact the questionnaire has on service delivery, such
as the effect on consultation times. Use of this tool could be
explored in other settings such as general practice and
pharmacies, as well as for clients requesting CHC for the
first time or for clients established on CHC in other
services.
Statements on funding and competing interests
Funding None identified.
Competing interests None identified.
References
1 Office for National Statistics. Contraception and Sexual Health,
2005/06 (Omnibus Survey Report No. 30). http://
www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/contraception
2005-06.pdf [Accessed 1 March 2007].
2 Kishen M, Belfield T. Contraception in crisis. J Fam Plann
Reprod Health Care 2006; 32: 211–212.
3 World Health Organization (WHO). Medical Eligibility Criteria
for Contraceptive Use (3rd edn). Geneva, Switzerland: WHO,
2004.
4 Family Health International. Provider Checklists for
Reproductive Health Services: Reference Guide.
http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/Pubs/servdelivery/checklists/index.
htm [Accessed 4 February 2007].
5 Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care. UK
Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (UKMEC
2005/2006). http://www.ffprhc.org.uk/admin/uploads/298_
UKMEC_200506.pdf [Accessed 15 September 2006].
6 Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care
Clinical Guidance. First Prescription of Combined Oral
Contraception (published July 2006, updated January 2007).
http://www.fsrh.org/admin/uploads/FirstPrescCombOralCont
Jan06.pdf [Accessed 1 March 2007].
7 McGinn T, Wyer PC, Newman TB, Keitz S, Leipzig R, For GG;
Evidence-Based Medicine Teaching Tips Working Group.Tips
for learners of evidence-based medicine: 3. Measures of
observer variability (kappa statistic). CMAJ 2004; 171:
1369–1373.
8 MacGregor EA. Hormonal contraception and migraine. J Fam
Plann Reprod Health Care 2001; 27: 49–52.
9 Shotorbani S, Miller L, Blough D, Gardner J. Agreement
between women’s and providers’ assessment of hormonal
contraceptive risk factors. Contraception 2006; 73: 501–506.
10 Colidtz GA, Martin P, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Sampson L,
Rosner B, et al. Validation of questionnaire information on risk
factors and disease outcomes in a prospective cohort study of
women. Am J Epidemiol 1986; 123: 894–900.
11 Boissonnault WG, Badke MB. Collecting health history
information: the accuracy of a patient self-administered
questionnaire in an orthopedic outpatient setting. Phys Ther
2005; 85: 531–543.
54
©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2008: 34(1)
Doshi et al./Book review
Stolen Tomorrows: Understanding and
Treating Women’s Childhood Sexual Abuse. S
Levenkron, A Levenkron. New York, NY: W W
Norton, 2007. ISBN: 0-393-06086-1. Price:
£16.99. Pages: 288 pages (hardcover)
It’s always worth celebrating an addition to the
coverage of therapy for abuse survivors. When
this addition is written well, sensitively and by an
experienced expert in the field, that’s even more
cause for celebration.
Steven Levenkron, already known for his
work on self-harm and eating disorders his
celebrity patients included Karen Carpenter
now focuses his attention on the issue of abuse.
Stolen Tomorrows, written with his wife Abby,
also a therapist, fulfils all of the above criteria,
and consists of a series of 19 extended case
histories with comment, with supporting sections
on the causes, progression and treatment of
female childhood abuse. It’s an insightful work,
and therapists both new to and working in the
field will find it useful, particularly if they wish
to have a window into what happens in the
counselling room. Non-therapists who work with
abuse survivors will also benefit from that
window, as well as gaining a good overview of
what can be done in a therapeutic context were
they to refer on.
So where’s my flinch, for flinch there is. I
have no doubts about this book’s appropriateness
to the professional reader. But then I turn to the
back cover and I read the advertising blurb on
several bookstore websites and the reviews
quoted on the authors own site and that’s
where I have my reservations. For the book
claims to be appropriate for the abuse survivor,
and that it will help such ‘victims’ seek help for
‘their secret shame’.
That may have been the book’s aim, but it’s
not what it has achieved. The case histories are
moving, but accompanied by objective and
entirely therapy-aimed commentaries that might
well frighten any but the most informed, educated
and therapeutically advanced client. At the end of
the 276 pages, the four and a half pages aimed at
such clients seem like and perhaps are – an
afterthought, and though compassionate, by no
means comprehensive or sufficient. None of this
would matter had the book been advertised as
being for a therapy market. But to major on its
use to survivors of abuse seems to me to be
inaccurate and unfortunate.
Final verdict? If you are a therapist,
absolutely buy it for your own library and
recommend it to colleagues. But on no account
give it to your clients until the work you are doing
with them is complete and they can take a long
view.
Reviewed by Susan Quilliam, BA, Cert Ed, MNLP
Freelance Writer, Broadcaster and Agony Aunt,
Cambridge, UK
BOOK REVIEW
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combined hormonal contraception
questionnaire in women requesting repeat
Feasibility of a self-completed history
L Wilkinson
Jagruti S Doshi, Rebecca S French, Hannah E R Evans and Christopher
doi: 10.1783/147118908783332203
2008 34: 51-54 J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care
http://jfprhc.bmj.com/content/34/1/51
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... All of the studies included were cross-sectional analyses; published between 1991 and 2018, with sample sizes varying from 19 [15] to 179,558 [16] women who used contraceptives. Nine of the studies were conducted in the United States [12,13,15,[17][18][19][20][21][22], four in Brazil [11,[23][24][25], two in the United Kingdom [16,26], one in Korea [27], one in Mexico [28], and one in France [29]. ...
... Within the studies included in the review, ten were population-based studies with a stratified, multistage probability sample [11,13,17,18,21,[23][24][25]27,28]. Four studies evaluated women attending health services or clinics or hospitals [15,16,26,29]. Grossman et al. [12] (2010) recruited a convenience sample of women between in El Paso, TX, at two public shopping malls and at an outdoor flea market. ...
... The studies enrolled women aged from 15 to 55 years, with the most frequent age range being 18-45 years. Use of CHC was assessed as use of oral contraceptives [11,15,17,18,20,[22][23][24]27,28] or as use of CHC regardless of form of administration (pills, vaginal rings, transdermal patches) [12,13,16,19,21,26,29]. Hardy et al. (1991) described use of contraceptive pills without specifying whether the analyses were restricted to users of CHC. ...
Article
Int**roduction: Combined hormonal contraceptives (CHC), containing estrogen, remain the most popular choice of contraceptive among women. While the method offers many benefits, the use of CHC involves potential health risks. The aim of this study was to analyze the available evidence on the prevalence of CHC use among women with contraindications to their use according to the WHO recommendations (2015). Methods Pubmed, Lilacs, and Web of Sciences databases were searched. Selection was based on articles that described the use of combined hormonal contraceptives according to the characteristics that are listed as contraindications in WHO medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use. Results A total of 4363 articles were identified and 18 articles were selected for the review. The most prevalent contraindications against use of CHC were systemic arterial hypertension, migraine, and smoking (in women aged 35 years or older). Prevalence rates of contraindications against use of CHC ranged from 5.9% to 41.9%. Conclusions A high proportion of women still use CHC when contraindicated to do so according to the WHO criteria. Health policies should focus on highlighting the importance of a detailed health evaluation on CHC candidates, to reduce the proportion of inappropriate prescriptions.
... Migraine headache without aura was the most prevalent contraindication, thus corroborating the findings of Doshi et al. 26 However, other studies have reported hypertension to be the most prevalent problem 11,12,27 . Some of this research evaluated women aged 18-49 years and others, women aged 20-49 years. ...
Article
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OBJECTIVE To describe the prevalence of contraindicated use of combined hormonal contraceptives, progesterone-only contraceptives, and intrauterine devices in mothers participating in the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort according to the WHO medical eligibility criteria. METHODS The biological mothers of children belonging to the 2015 Pelotas birth cohort who attended the 48-month follow-up were studied. The 48-month follow-up data were collected from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019. Contraindicated use of modern contraceptives was considered to occur when these women presented at least one of the contraindications for the use of modern contraceptives and were using these methods. The prevalence of contraindicated use was calculated according to each independent variable and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). RESULTS The analyzed sample consisted of 3,053 women who used any modern contraceptive method. The prevalence of contraindicated use of modern contraceptives totaled 25.9% (95%CI: 24.4–27.5). Combined hormonal contraceptives showed the highest prevalence of contraindicated use (52.1%; 95%CI: 49.3–54.8). The prevalence of contraindicated use of modern contraceptives methods was greater in women with family income between one and three minimum wages, a 25–30 kg/m² body mass index, indication by a gynecologist for the used method, and purchasing the contraceptive method at a pharmacy. The higher the women’s education, the lower the prevalence of inappropriate use of modern contraceptives. CONCLUSION In total, one in four women used modern contraceptives despite showing at least one contraindication. Policies regarding women’s reproductive health should be strengthened. Contraceptive Agents; Contraindications; Progesterone; Contraceptives, Oral, Combined; Intrauterine Devices
... It has been demonstrated that relevant contraindications to HC can be identified with existing tools, concluding that pharmacists can efficiently screen women for the safe use of HC and are able to select appropriate products [28]. In addition, women have also been shown to accurately self-screen for contraindications to HC [29][30][31]. Other research revealed no difference in absolute contraindication between OTC access and family planning clinics (category 4 contraindications according to MEC from WHO) [32]. ...
Article
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(1) Background: Access to hormonal contraceptives (HC) strongly differs between countries and varies from over the counter (OTC) to prescription-only availability. This study aimed to identify opinions among physicians in Switzerland regarding extended access to HC. (2) Methods: Web-based survey among physicians (gynecologists, general practitioners, and pediatricians) in Switzerland. (3) Results: Hundred sixty-three physicians, mainly gynecologists, participated in this survey and 147 (90%) were included for analysis. A total of 68% (n = 100) answered that prescription-only status could be extended under certain conditions but physicians were concerned about patients’ safety (97%, n = 142). Moreover, there was concern about insufficient patient education on HC (93%, n = 136) and that women may forego preventive examinations (80%, n = 118). Participants did not support OTC availability (93%, n = 136). Pharmacists prescribing (including initiation of HC) revealed controversial results, but a combined access model (initial prescription from physician and follow-up prescriptions by pharmacists) found acceptance in 70% (n = 103). (4) Conclusions: Participating physicians stated that prescription-only status for HC could be lifted under certain conditions but also some concerns, e.g., patients’ safety or neglection of preventive examinations, were raised. Future research should focus on specific conditions in which extended access to HC could be agreed on.
... 28 We utilized the wording and checklist approach validated in previous studies to elicit information on potential contraindications to estrogen. 29,30 Health conditions classified as category 3 or 4 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Medical Eligibility Criteria for contraceptive use were used to define a potential contraindication. 28 Women receiving estrogen-containing methods were flagged as having a potential contraindication to combined hormonal contraception if they had history of migraines with aura, history of blood clots, or hypertension or were over 40 years of age with hypertension or current tobacco use (multiple risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease). ...
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Importance Since 2016, 11 states have expanded the scope of pharmacists to include direct prescription of hormonal contraception. Dispensing greater than 1 month’s supply is associated with improved contraceptive continuation rates and fewer breaks in coverage. Scant data exist on the practice of pharmacist prescription of contraception and its outcomes compared with traditional, clinic-based prescriptions. Objective To compare the amount of hormonal contraceptive supply dispensed between pharmacists and clinic-based prescriptions. Prescribing patterns were assessed by describing prescribing practices for women with contraindications to combined hormonal contraception. Characteristics of women seeking hormonal contraception directly from pharmacists were also described. Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study surveyed women aged 18 to 50 years who presented to pharmacies in California, Colorado, Hawaii, and Oregon for hormonal contraception prescribed by a clinician or a pharmacist between January 30 and November 1, 2019. Exposures Pharmacist or clinic-based prescription of contraception. Main Outcomes and Measures Months of contraceptive supply dispensed. Results Four hundred ten women (mean [SD] age, 27.1 [7.7] years) were recruited who obtained contraception directly from a pharmacist (n = 144) or by traditional clinician prescription (n = 266). Women obtaining contraception from a pharmacist were significantly younger (82 [56.9%] vs 115 [43.2%] participants aged 18-24 years; P = .03), had less education (38 [26.4%] vs 100 [37.6%] with a bachelor degree; P = .002), and were more likely to be uninsured (16 [11.1%] vs 8 [3.0%] participants; P = .001) compared with women with a prescription from a clinician. Pharmacists were significantly more likely to prescribe a 6-month or greater supply of contraceptives than clinicians (6.9% vs 1.5%, P < .001) and significantly less likely to only prescribe a 1-month supply (42 [29.2%] vs 118 [44.4%] prescriptions; P < .001). Controlling for all covariates, women seen by pharmacists had higher odds of receipt of a 6-month or greater supply of contraceptives compared with those seen by clinicians (odds ratio = 3.55; 95% CI, 1.88-6.70). Pharmacists were as likely as clinicians to prescribe a progestin-only method to women with a potential contraindication to estrogen (n = 60 women; 8 [20.0%] vs 6 [30.0%], P = .52). Conclusions and Relevance These findings suggest that pharmacist prescription of contraception may be associated with improved contraceptive continuation by preventing breaks in coverage through the provision of a greater supply of medication. Efforts are needed to educate prescribing providers on the importance of dispensing 6 months or greater contraceptive supply.
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With the recent overturning of Roe V. Wade by the Supreme Court, access to abortions in many regions across the United States will become very limited as laws regarding fetal termination will be determined by state legislators rather than on a federal level. This article highlights the effects of Roe V. Wade's abolishment on individuals that can get pregnant, how unwanted pregnancies will affect society in general, and reasonable steps forward following the ban. We conducted an electronic search using PubMed, Google, and Google Scholar. The search was retrospective, and the preliminary results focused on articles about the rationale behind pregnancy termination and the overall effects of abortion and the ban. Review papers, original papers, and newspaper articles were eligible for use. Sample size and region of publication were not exclusionary criteria. Each author independently reviewed and extracted data to write up each assigned section, and group collaborations occurred to create the final draft. Out of the 93 resources reviewed, 32 sources were deemed eligible and used in this article. These resources included 23 journal articles, eight websites, and one book.. The data gathered showed that while abortions have many potential complications even when performed under regulated conditions, taking away the choice of those with a uterus is also not without consequence. The economic, familial, and societal implications should be considered moving forward as safety nets will need to be implemented for people with uterus and children involved.
Article
Objective: Medical contraindications to estrogen limit women's contraceptive options. This study assessed the association between selected medical contraindications to estrogen on contraceptive use and examined whether contraindications serve as a barrier to the prevention of unintended pregnancy. Materials and Methods: We analyzed women aged 18-44 at risk of unintended pregnancy participating in the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Survey questions queried women regarding contraceptive use and contraindications to estrogen use. We assessed the most recently used contraceptive method and compared the odds of women using each category of contraception (no methods, less effective methods, pill/patch/ring, injection, intrauterine device, implant, permanent contraception) between those with and without potential contraindications to estrogen using multinomial logistic regression models. Results: This study included 32,098 women, of whom 16% had one or more potential contraindications to estrogen. There were significant differences in contraceptive choice by potential contraindication status (p < 0.01). Fifteen percent of women with potential contraindications reported using estrogen-containing methods (pill, patch, or ring) compared with 20% of women with no potential contraindication. Women with potential contraindications to estrogen more frequently used permanent contraception (odds ratio [OR] vs. pill/patch/ring: 1.48 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17-1.88) or no contraceptive method (OR vs. pill/patch/ring: 1.37 95% CI: 1.07-1.75) after adjustment for race, age, marital status, and income. Conclusions: Potential medical contraindications to estrogen are associated with permanent contraception and the use of no contraception. These results portray a complicated relationship but could suggest a lack of access to other contraceptive options.
Article
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Purpose Multiple states allow pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraception but can have age restrictions. The study objective was to examine how age influences adolescents' and young adults' (AYAs) ability to self-report potential contraindications to hormonal contraception compared with physician reports (our “gold standard”). Methods Between February 2017 and August 2018, girls aged 14–21 years and their physicians were recruited in outpatient adolescent primary and subspecialty care clinics. Screeners were completed separately for medical conditions that are potential contraindications to hormonal contraception as defined by the Centers for Disease Control Medical Eligibility Criteria. Overall, discordance was defined as differences between the patient's and provider's answers, and potential unsafe discordance was defined as AYAs underreporting of contraindications. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine predictors of overall and unsafe discordance. Results Of 394 AYA/physician pairs, 45% were from subspecialty clinics, 35% identified as African American, the mean age was 16.7 ± 1.9 years, and 38% were sexually active. Fifty percent of patients reported potential contraindications to hormonal contraception. There was only an 18% rate of unsafe discordance, with no statistical difference by age but a higher rate in subspecialty clinics (28% vs. 10%). No variables were predictive of higher rates of unsafe discordance in general or subspecialty clinics. Conclusions Potential overall and unsafe discordance between AYAs' and physicians' reports of medical contraindications to combined hormonal contraception were not related to younger age and thus support expansion of pharmacy access to adolescents. Pediatric subspecialists need to proactively address hormonal contraceptive needs and safety as pharmacy access expands.
Article
The low rates of actual contraceptive failure and high rates of contraceptive use among young women highlights that choice of contraceptive method and patterns of contraceptive use greatly influence unintended pregnancy risk. Promoting contraceptive use among adolescent and young adult women requires supportive health systems and health providers who understand this population’s evolving developmental needs. It also requires an awareness of effective tools for counseling patients, while being mindful of the power dynamics operational during clinical encounters to avoid inadvertent, coercive interpersonal dynamics. Missed opportunities to provide such patient centered care can lead to unplanned pregnancies and suboptimal health and social consequences for young women. Unfortunately, health providers often lack the tools and resources to appropriately identify and meet individual young women’s contraceptive needs. This paper summarizes the evidence supporting contraceptive counseling strategies linked with contraceptive initiation among young women, and evidence-based approaches for supporting contraceptive adherence and continuation after method initiation. It also orients readers to the unique neurodevelopmental factors that influence the shared-decision making process during contraception counseling sessions with young women. New and emerging approaches for supporting contraceptive initiation, adherence and continuation are reviewed.
Article
Introduction Reduced funding to contraceptive services in the UK is resulting in restricted access for women. Pharmacists are already embedded in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care in the UK and could provide an alternative way for women to access contraception. The aim of this study was to determine the views of UK contraception providers about community pharmacist-led contraception provision. Methods An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to healthcare professionals at two UK SRH events, asking respondents about: (1) the use of patient group directions (PGDs) for pharmacist provision of oral contraception (OC); (2) the sale of OC as a pharmacy medicine or general sales list medicine; (3) the perceived impact of pharmacy provision of OC on broader SRH outcomes; and (4) if other contraceptive methods should be provided in pharmacies. Results Of 240 questionnaires distributed, 174 (72.5%) were returned. Respondents largely supported pharmacy-led provision of all non-uterine methods of contraception, excluding the contraceptive implant. Provision of the progestogen-only pill by PGD was most strongly supported (78% supported initiation). Respondents felt that the use of bridging (temporary) contraception would improve (103/144, 71.5%), use of effective contraception would increase (81/141, 57.4%), and unintended pregnancies would decline (71/130, 54.6%); but that use of long-acting reversible contraception would decrease (86/143, 60.1%). Perceived barriers included pharmacists’ capacity and competency to provide a full contraception consultation, safeguarding concerns, and women having to pay for contraception. Conclusions UK SRH providers were largely supportive of community pharmacy-led provision of contraception, with training and referral pathways being required to support contraception delivery by pharmacists.
Article
To assess the validity of self-reported illnesses, medical records were reviewed for participants reporting major illnesses on the biennial follow-up questionnaires used in a prospective cohort study which began in 1976. In over 90% of cases of cancer of the breast, skin, large bowel, and thyroid, histopathology reports confirmed the subjects' self-report. Lower levels of confirmation were obtained for cancers of the lung, ovary, and uterus. Application of strict diagnostic criteria also gave lower levels of confirmation for myocardial infarction (68%) and stroke (66%). Among random samples of women reporting fractures and hypertension all records obtained confirmed self-reports. For self-reported elevated cholesterol levels 85.7% of self-reports were confirmed. Self-report is a valuable epidemiologic tool but may require additional documentation when the disease is diagnostically complex.
Article
This introductory article highlights the discrepancy between family planning and technological progress posing questions such as Where is the male pill or implant? or Where is the single user-friendly method that effectively prevents both conception and sexually transmitted infections?
Article
Imagine that you're a busy family physician and that you've found a rare free moment to scan the recent literature. Reviewing your preferred digest of abstracts, you notice a study comparing emergency physicians' interpretation of chest radiographs with radiologists' interpretations.1 The article catches your eye because you have frequently found that your own reading of a radiograph differs from both the official radiologist reading and an unofficial reading by a different radiologist, and you've wondered about the extent of this disagreement and its implications. Looking at the abstract, you find that the authors have reported the extent of agreement using the κ statistic. You recall that κ stands for “kappa” and that you have encountered this measure of agreement before, but your grasp of its meaning remains tentative. You therefore choose to take a quick glance at the authors' conclusions as reported in the abstract and to defer downloading and reviewing the full text of the article. Practitioners, such as the family physician just described, may benefit from understanding measures of observer variability. For many studies in the medical literature, clinician readers will be interested in the extent of agreement among multiple observers. For example, do the investigators in a clinical study agree on the presence or absence of physical, radiographic or laboratory findings? Do investigators involved in a systematic overview agree on the validity of an article, or on whether the article should be included in the analysis? In perusing these types of studies, where investigators are interested in quantifying agreement, clinicians will often come across the kappa statistic. In this article we present tips aimed at helping clinical learners to use the concepts of kappa when applying diagnostic tests in practice. The tips presented here have been adapted from approaches developed by educators experienced in teaching evidence-based medicine skills to clinicians.2 A related article, intended for people who teach these concepts to clinicians, is available online at www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/171/11/1369/DC1.
Article
The utility of patient self-administered health history questionnaires has been extensively studied in physician practice settings, but little such research has been done in populations germane to physical therapist practice. The purpose of this study was to document the accuracy of a self-administered questionnaire for collecting patients' history of illness, surgery, and medication use. Outpatient orthopedic surgery candidates (n=100, 54% female, 46% male; mean age=46.9 years) with common orthopedic disorders were recruited. Using the same form, patient health history information was recorded separately by patient self-report and by an experienced health care practitioner. Patient questionnaire responses were compared for accuracy with responses generated by the practitioner and those found in the medical record. The mean percentage of agreement across questionnaire items was 96% (range=57%-100%); the mean kappa value was .69 (range=.154-1.0). Of the total questionnaire responses across all patients (n=9,436), 2.55% (n=241) of the responses were noted "yes" on the practitioner questionnaire, but not on the patient questionnaire; 1.8% of the items (n=174) were noted "yes" on the patient questionnaire, but not on the practitioner questionnaire. The results support the accuracy of patient self-administered health history questionnaires in reporting important health history information.
Article
To measure agreement between women's self-administered risk factor questionnaire and their providers' evaluation of their medical eligibility for hormonal contraceptive use. This was an anonymous cross-sectional study. Participants were women 15-45 years old who completed a 20-item self-administered questionnaire. Women were recruited from six public health family planning clinics in the Seattle Metropolitan area. A matching medical evaluation questionnaire was completed concurrently by each participant's health care provider. Using provider evaluation as the "gold standard" against which we compared self-reported medical history, we calculated participant-provider agreement with point estimates and 95% confidence interval (CI). Of 399 participant and provider pairs, participant-provider agreement was obtained for 392 participant pairs. The majority of the participants (90.3%) were 15-30 years old and 77.7% had used a hormonal contraceptive method for more than 1 year. The estimated proportion of the overall agreement was 96% (95% CI, 0.92-0.98). Women were more likely to report severe headaches (12.4% vs. 3.3%), possible pregnancy (7.3% vs. 3.5%) and smoking (6.2% vs. 2.1%) than providers, but less likely to report smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day (2.6% vs. 9.2%) and irregular menses (6.5% vs. 9.9%). Overall, a high proportion of the women in this study completed our medical history questionnaire in concordance with their health care providers' same-day medical evaluation. Agreement on critical medical eligibility criteria such as hypertension was well above 90%. For criteria on which there was disagreement, women were more likely to identify contraindications than were their providers.
Book review Stolen Tomorrows: Understanding and Treating Women's Childhood Sexual Abuse
  • Doshi
Doshi et al./Book review Stolen Tomorrows: Understanding and Treating Women's Childhood Sexual Abuse. S Levenkron, A Levenkron. New York, NY: W W Norton, 2007. ISBN: 0-393-06086-1. Price: £16.99. Pages: 288 pages (hardcover)
Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 2004. 4 Family Health International. Provider Checklists for Reproductive Health Services: Reference Guide
World Health Organization (WHO). Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (3rd edn). Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 2004. 4 Family Health International. Provider Checklists for Reproductive Health Services: Reference Guide. http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/Pubs/servdelivery/checklists/index. htm [Accessed 4 February 2007].
Tips for learners of evidence-based medicine: 3. Measures of observer variability (kappa statistic)
Evidence-Based Medicine Teaching Tips Working Group.Tips for learners of evidence-based medicine: 3. Measures of observer variability (kappa statistic). CMAJ 2004; 171: 1369-1373.