Best Practices to Drive Time and Cost Savings for Contraceptives | Page 2

Trials in Women’s Health: Best Practices to Drive Time and
Cost Savings for Your Women’s Contraceptive Clinical Trial
In the US, approximately 50% of pregnancies are unintended1
despite the fact that 62% of women of reproductive age in the US use

Figure 1.

What Are the Stakes?

contraception;2 in fact, these women account for half of the unintended
pregnancies.3 There are higher proportions of unintended pregnancies
among adolescent and young women, racial/ethnic minorities, and
women with lower levels of education and income.3
Dissatisfaction with a product, lack of understanding of its correct use,
or the inability to access an appropriate option may contribute to the
disuse or misuse of contraception,4 resulting in unintended pregnancies.
In comparison, when used as intended (“perfect” use), the majority of
pharmaceutical options have low failure rates, in the range of 0.05–6%.5
There is a plethora of contraceptive options available in the US, either over-the-counter or by prescription, all of which are reversible. Barrier
methods include physical or chemical barriers used at the time of sexual intercourse that prevent sperm from fertilizing the eggs and may also
protect against sexually transmitted infections. The majority of the hormonal methods require regular administration (orally or by patch, insertion,
or injection) to regulate or stop ovulation through the use of progestin or a combination of estrogen and progestin, while intrauterine devices (IUDs)
are implanted and release either copper or progestin to prevent ovulation or to prevent an egg from attaching to the uterine wall.
Figure 2.

Types of Contraception

Barrier methods:

Diaphragms, sponges, cervical caps, male condoms, female condoms, and spermicides

Hormonal methods:

Combined oral contraceptives (the “pill”), progestin-only pills (POPs), the contraceptive patch, injectable birth
control, the vaginal ring, an implantable rod inserted in the upper arm, and emergency contraceptive pills

Intrauterine devices (IUDs):

T-shaped device that is inserted in the uterus, can be inserted for years

Sterilization:

Permanent and usually involves surgery of the reproductive tract

clinipace.com

1