Contraceptive choice: how do oral contraceptive users differ from condom users and women who use no contraception?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether contraceptive choice is influenced by social and reproductive characteristics in a cohort of high-risk women.

This is a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a randomized clinical trial of 542 women who were recruited from an urban population in New England. Of these participants, 422 women met inclusion criteria and had contraceptive information available for analysis. We evaluated sociodemographic and sexual history characteristics that were associated with oral contraceptive (OC) use, male condom use, or the use of no contraceptive method.

Women who reported OC use were more likely to have at least a high school education, to be white, and to have private insurance than were women who used no form of contraception. Women who used OCs were more likely to have private insurance than women who used male condoms. Finally, although having a new sexual partner in the past 6 months and having multiple sexual partners in the preceding month were associated with contraceptive choice, other reproductive characteristics were not.

Among this cohort of women at high-risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy, sociodemographic characteristics that included education level, race, insurance status, and sexual history influenced contraceptive choice.