Compliance with return appointments for reproductive health care among adolescent Norplant users

Norplant's long duration of action may result in users being less motivated than non-users to return for reproductive health care appointments. This study determined compliance with scheduled return appointments among adolescents using Norplant and those using other methods of contraception.

We retrospectively reviewed the records of all teenagers (age < or = 18 years) who received Norplant between June 1991 and August 1993, as well as those of a comparison group of adolescents, matched for age and race, using other methods of contraception. Subjects receiving Norplant were given appointments for a two-week and an annual examination. Comparison subjects were given only an appointment for an annual examination. Norplant users not returning within 5 weeks or any subject not presenting within 12 months for an annual examination, were considered non-compliant.

Eighty-eight adolescents received Norplant during the study period and the records of 85 were available for review. Only 48 of the 85 Norplant users returned for scheduled two-week check-up, while 18 of 43 subjects who had Norplant at least 12 months were compliant with annual examinations. The compliance rate with annual examinations among the 89 subjects not using Norplant was 38%, not dissimilar from that of the Norplant group.

These data demonstrate that compliance with return appointments for reproductive health care among adolescent Norplant users is poor but not significantly worse than that of non-users of Norplant. Strategies promoting the benefits of return visits need to be improved for adolescents receiving contraception.