IUDs, Hormone Implants Increasing in Popularity Among American Women
American women are increasingly opting for longer-lasting and highly effective forms of birth control, a new survey shows.
The intrauterine device, or IUD, was the contraceptive of choice for 6.4 percent of American women aged 15-44 from 2011 to 2013, according to a report published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Long-acting but reversible methods of birth control are becoming increasingly popular among U.S. women, with IUDs redesigned after safety scares and the development of under-the-skin hormone implants, a government report shows.
Forty-two percent of doctors say they use a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) method like intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the contraceptive implant. Among the general population, numbers are much lower: separate survey data shows 12 percent of women chose the same option.
"The difference in contraceptive choices between providers and the general population is even higher than we expected," said Dr. Ashlesha Patel, lead researcher on the study, published Monday in the journal Contraception.
The new study backs up similar findings that medical providers prefer IUDs to other forms of birth control.
A 2014 study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology found that 40 percent of female family planning providers between the ages of 19 and 44 used IUDs, while only about six percent of women in the general population were using an IUD or similar long-acting reversible contraceptive.
