TITLE:
Combined Oral Contraceptive Use at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria: A-20 Year Review
AUTHORS:
John Dimkpa Ojule, Emmanuel Okwudili Oranu
KEYWORDS:
Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill, Nigeria, Port Harcourt, Twenty Years
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.5 No.6,
June
27,
2017
ABSTRACT: Background: While the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP)
is one of the most commonly used methods of birth control especially in the developed
countries, robust and current information on the pill use in developing
countries including Nigeria is at best lacking. Objectives: The study
was conducted to determine the prevalence rate, efficacy and side effects of
COCP at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port
Harcourt, Southern Nigeria. Methods: It was a retrospective analysis of
all clients who used the COCP between 1st January 1997 and 31st December, 2016, at the family planning clinic of UPTH Port Harcourt. Data on
sociodemographic profile, side effects and source of information were extracted
from the clients’ case notes coded and fed into Excel spread sheet and
analysed. Results: Of the 8310 new acceptors of modern contraceptive methods in UPTH, 399 clients
used the COCP, giving a prevalence rate of 4.8%. The mean age of the acceptors
was 26.42 ± 4.27 years while the mean parity was 1.90 ± 0.36. Menstrual disruption was the most common
complications with 78 episodes constituting 47.0% of all the complications. One
unintended pregnancy occurred during the period of observation, giving a Pearl
index of 0.01. Conclusion: The study showed that although COCP is very
effective, readily available, safe and reliable method of fertility control,
the acceptance rate is very low and the patronage rapidly declining and may
therefore go into extinction as a family planning method in
Port Harcourt, Southern, Nigeria.