OBJECTIVE
The objective of this analysis was to estimate the 3-year continuation rates of long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods, and compare these rates to non-LARC methods.
STUDY DESIGN
The Contraceptive CHOICE Project (CHOICE) was a prospective cohort study that followed 9,256 participants with telephone surveys at 3 and 6 months, then every 6 months for 2–3 years. We estimated 3-year continuation rates of baseline methods chosen for CHOICE including three LARC methods (52mg levonorgestrel intrauterine device, LNG-IUD; the copper intrauterine device, Cu-IUD; and the subdermal implant) and compared these rates to non-LARC hormonal methods (depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, oral contraceptive pills, contraceptive patch, or vaginal ring). Eligibility criteria for this analysis included participants who started their baseline chosen method by the 3-month survey. Participants who discontinued their method to attempt conception were censored. We used a Cox proportional hazard model to adjust for confounding and to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for risk of discontinuation.
RESULTS
Our analytic sample consisted of 4,708 CHOICE participants who met inclusion criteria. Three-year continuation rates were 69.8% for users of the LNG-IUD, 69.7% for Cu-IUD users, and 56.2% for implant users. At 3 years, continuation was 67.2% among LARC users and 31.0% among non-LARC users (p <0.001). After adjustment for age, race, education, socioeconomic status, parity, and history of sexually transmitted infection, the hazard ratio for risk of discontinuation was three-fold higher among non-LARC method users than LARC users (HRadj = 3.08, 95% CI 2.80 – 3.39).
CONCLUSION
Three-year continuation of the two IUDs approached 70%. Continuation of LARC methods was significantly higher than non-LARC methods.