Adolescent and Young Women's Experience with the Vaginal Ring and Oral Contraceptive Pills

Abstract 

Study Objective

To compare acceptability of the vaginal contraceptive ring to that of oral contraceptive pills.

Design

Randomized, cross-over, 6-month study.

Setting

Urban family planning clinic for young low-income patients.

Participants

Sexually active females aged 15–21 years (n = 130).

Interventions

Participants were randomly assigned to use the vaginal ring or oral contraceptive pills for an initial study interval of three 28-day cycles, followed by three cycles of the alternate method.

Main Outcome Measures

Participants completed surveys about method use, acceptability, and side effects at baseline, after three cycles, and after six cycles. We analyzed study data using ANOVA models for cross-over designs.

Results

We did not detect higher compliance with the ring as compared to oral contraceptive pills (P = 0.176), although overall approval of the ring was significantly higher on several items measured, including liked using method (P = 0.015), would recommend it to friends (P = 0.012), and not as hard to remember to use method correctly (P ≤ 0.000). Participants were less worried about health risks while using the ring (P = 0.006), but reported that the ring was more likely to interfere with sex than the pill (P ≤ 0.001) and that sex partners liked the pill (P = 0.034). Most women did not report bothersome side effects with either method.

Conclusions

Adolescent and young women showed favorable acceptability of the vaginal contraceptive ring compared to oral contraceptive pills.

Key Words: Vaginal ring, Adolescents, Acceptability of hormonal contraception