Sterilization regret among Puerto Rican women

This study examined sterilization regret among Puerto Rican women with contraceptive tubal sterilizations (TS) using retrospective data from a population-based survey of women aged 15 to 49 years. Twenty-one percent of the 846 respondents expressed some regret, with 11% stating definite dissatisfaction with the decision. Factors associated with regret were young age at TS, absence of daughters, someone else making the decision to be sterilized, medical indications for TS, sterilization failure, and living with a new marital partner. There were no significant effects associated with the timing of sterilization, whether interval or postpartum, or with the type of last delivery. Other factors not independently associated with regret included years since TS, parity, education, and age at follow-up.