Let's Talk About Sex: Improving Measurement of Contraceptive Use in Cross-Sectional Surveys by Accounting for Sexual Activity Recency.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Standard measures of contraceptive prevalence have known biases given that they do not reflect sexual activity and true exposure to the risk of an unintended pregnancy. In this study, we aim to understand the extent to which women protect themselves against unintended pregnancy, taking into account exposure to sex, by examining contraceptive use patterns by marital status and recent sexual activity.

Methods

Data come from population-based surveys of reproductive age women in 9 low-resource settings. We estimated contraceptive prevalence using (1) the standard current contraceptive use measure, (2) a new measure of contraceptive use at last sex, and (3) a comprehensive measure that combines current use and use at last sex. Analyses are stratified by site and exam

SUBMITTER: Bell SO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9053161 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature