Impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on contraception use in 2020 and up until the end of April 2021 in France

To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of reimbursed contraceptives in France after 15 months of the pandemic, according to age-group and updating previous data only pertaining to the first lockdown (2 months). We conducted a national register-based study by extracting all reimburs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Contraception (Stoneham) 2022-04, Vol.108, p.50-55
Main Authors: Roland, Noémie, Drouin, Jérôme, Desplas, David, Duranteau, Lise, Cuenot, François, Dray-Spira, Rosemary, Weill, Alain, Zureik, Mahmoud
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Communicable Disease Control
Contraception - methods
Contraception, Postcoital
Contraceptive Agents, Female
Contraceptive methods
COVID-19
Female
Gynecology and obstetrics
Healthcare access
Human health and pathology
Humans
Infant
Levonorgestrel
Life Sciences
Original
Pandemics
Pregnancy
Reproductive health
Santé publique et épidémiologie
SARS-CoV-2
Sexual Health
Young Adult
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Summary:To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of reimbursed contraceptives in France after 15 months of the pandemic, according to age-group and updating previous data only pertaining to the first lockdown (2 months). We conducted a national register-based study by extracting all reimbursements of oral contraceptives (OC), emergency contraception (EC), intrauterine devices (IUD), and implants from the French National Health Insurance database (SNDS), which includes and covers 99.5% of the French population, in 2018, 2019, 2020 and from January 1, 2021 to April30, 2021. We calculated the expected use of contraceptives in 2020 and 2021 in the absence of the pandemic, based on 2018 and 2019 usage and taking annual trends into account. We assessed the difference between observed and expected dispensing rates by contraceptive type and by age-group (≤18 years old, 18< age ≤25, 25< age ≤35, >35). Dispensing of all contraceptives decreased compared to expect dispensing numbers: −2.0% for OC, −5.3% for EC, −9.5% for LNG-IUS, −8.6% for C-IUD, and −16.4% for implant. This decrease in the dispensing of contraceptives was observed in all age-groups, but mainly concerned women under the age of 18 years (−22% for OC, −10% for EC, −37.2% for LNG-IUS, −36.4% for C-IUD, −26.4% for implant) and those aged 18 to 25 (−5.1% for OC, −11.9% for EC, −18.1% for LNG-IUS, −15.9% for C-IUD, −17.6% for implants). Our study showed that the dispensing of contraceptives in France was markedly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prescriptions for long-acting contraceptive use and women under the age of 25 years were the most substantially impacted. Ensuring access to contraceptive methods during health emergencies must be a public health policy priority. The COVID-19 pandemic strongly impacted the dispensing of contraceptives in France with varying degrees of decreased dispensing according to the type of contraceptive, the age-group and the level of pandemic-related restrictions. The impact of these restrictions on unintended pregnancy at the population level remains undetermined.
ISSN:0010-7824
1879-0518
DOI:10.1016/j.contraception.2021.12.002