title: Continuation of reversible contraception in teenagers and young women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effect of age on continuation rates of reversible contraceptive methods among females aged 14-19 years and women aged 20-25 years compared with women older than 25 years of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from 7,472 participants enrolled in the Contraceptive CHOICE Project, a prospective cohort study of women offered no-cost contraception. Our primary objective was to compare 12-month continuation rates between females aged 14-19, 20-25, and 26 years and older. We collected data about method continuation from telephone surveys and chart review. We used Kaplan-Meier survival curves to estimate continuation and Cox proportional hazard models to examine the risk of contraceptive method discontinuation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve-month continuation of long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods was more than 75% for all age groups. Females aged 14-19 years using LARC methods had slightly lower continuation rates (81%) than older women (85-86%), but this did not reach statistical or clinical significance. Compared with women older than 25 years of age, females aged 14-19 years had higher discontinuation rates for non-LARC methods (53% compared with 44%; adjusted hazard ratio 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.73). The females aged 14-19 years were less likely to be satisfied with non-LARC methods (42% compared with 51%; adjusted relative risk 0.80, 95% CI 0.65-0.98), but not with LARC methods (75% compared with 83%; relative risk 0.94, 95% CI 0.88-1.01) when compared with women older than 25 years of age; however, the differences were small.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Teenagers and young women have high rates of LARC method continuation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rosenstock
authors.forename: Jeffrey F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Peipert
authors.forename: Tessa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Madden
authors.forename: Qiuhong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Gina M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Secura
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003267:Contraception / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult