Incidence of extrauterine pregnancies in IUD users
Gibor, Y.; Pharriss, B.
Contraception Fertilite Sexualite 8(2): 109-120
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0301-861X PMID: 12336184 Document Number: 165462
In January 1979 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Published a report indicating that experimental clinical studies had demonstrated that conception by progesterone-releasing IUD (Progestasert) entailed more risk of ectopic pregnancy than contraception with other types of IUDs, and that such risk was similar to that of women not utilizing any contraceptive method. In this article the authors show that such indication is not correct, and that comparative studies and new epidemiological data clearly demonstrate that all IUD types carry the same risk of ectopic pregnancy. The FDA statement was probably based on data gathered under different protocols, from different patient populations, in very dissimilar conditions of study, and from badly chosen samples. Moreover, it appears that the FDA statement did not take into consideration other factors predisposing to ectopic pregnancy, such as endometritis and uterine fibroma.