To determine the efficacy of using natural family planning (NFP) methods to avoid unintended pregnancy among women of perimenopause age (i.e., age 40-55 years).
Design
A secondary analysis of subset data from two prospective observational cohort studies.
Setting
A university based in-person and online NFP service program.
Participants
One hundred and sixty couples who used either a website or an in-person NFP service to learn how to avoid pregnancy from January 2001 to November 2012.
Methods
A prospective 12-month effectiveness study among 160 women (between ages 40-55) who used NFP to avoid pregnancy. The women used either a hormonal fertility monitor, cervical mucus monitoring, or both to estimate the fertile phase of their menstrual cycles. Survival analysis was used to determine the pregnancy rate over 12 months of use.
Results
There were a total of five unintended pregnancies among the participants. The typical use pregnancy rate was six per 100 women over 12 months. The monitor alone participants (n = 35) had a 12-month pregnancy rate of three, the participants (n = 73) who used mucus alone had a pregnancy rate of four, and the participants (n = 42) who used the fertility monitor plus mucus had a pregnancy rate of six.
Conclusion
Natural family planning methods can be effective for older women to avoid an unintended pregnancy with correct use and adequate instructions. The pregnancy rate most likely was affected by diminished fertility and motivation to limit family size.
natural family planning efficacy perimenopause women, NFP avoid pregnancy women age 40 to 55, Fehring natural family planning perimenopause cohort study, fertility monitor cervical mucus perimenopause pregnancy avoidance, NFP effectiveness older reproductive age women, hormonal fertility monitor perimenopause typical use pregnancy rate, Marquette method perimenopause natural family planning, perimenopause fertility awareness survival analysis pregnancy rate, cervical mucus monitoring perimenopause effectiveness, diminished fertility older women NFP unintended pregnancy
PMID 24754305 24754305 DOI 10.1111/1552-6909.12307 10.1111/1552-6909.12307
Cite this article
Fehring, R. J., & Mu, Q. (2014). Cohort efficacy study of natural family planning among perimenopause age women. Journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing : JOGNN, 43(3), 351-358. https://doi.org/10.1111/1552-6909.12307
Fehring RJ, Mu Q. Cohort efficacy study of natural family planning among perimenopause age women. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2014;43(3):351-358. doi:10.1111/1552-6909.12307
Fehring, R. J., and Q. Mu. "Cohort efficacy study of natural family planning among perimenopause age women." Journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing : JOGNN, vol. 43, no. 3, 2014, pp. 351-358.
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