The primary objective of this study was to investigate the profile of the Dutch Persona user and her opinion about this relatively new way of natural birth control. The results of the study were used to draw conclusions for the suitability for Persona as a contraceptive method.
Method
Data from 137 users of the device were obtained from structured questionnaires.
Results
The 'Persona woman' is typically in a steady relationship, highly educated and has an above-average income. She wants to have a contraceptive method with no side-effects and desires children in the future. She is therefore looking for information about her own cycle. It is remarkable that one in four women uses the system to help in planning a pregnancy instead of avoiding one.
Conclusions
Persona seems to be a welcome alternative for natural family planning and for couples who have no absolute negative attitude towards a(nother) child, but want to postpone their first pregnancy or to space pregnancies. The method is not reliable enough to be used as the only contraceptive method when a couple absolutely wants to prevent a pregnancy. Another conclusion that can be drawn is that the method improves fertility awareness.
Persona monitor natural family planning Netherlands user profile, fertility awareness device contraception user satisfaction, Persona contraceptive urinary hormone monitor Dutch women, natural birth control side effect free method preferences, fertility monitor pregnancy planning spacing pregnancies, Janssen van Lunsen Persona user Netherlands, highly educated women natural family planning choice, cycle awareness fertility monitoring device effectiveness, Persona device pregnancy avoidance vs achieving pregnancy, contraceptive alternatives natural methods user demographics
PMID 10943577 10943577 DOI 10.1080/13625180008500388 10.1080/13625180008500388
Cite this article
Janssen, C. J., & van Lunsen, R. H. (2000). Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands. The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception, 5(2), 141-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/13625180008500388
Janssen CJ, van Lunsen RH. Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands. Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 2000;5(2):141-146. doi:10.1080/13625180008500388
Janssen, C. J., and Rik HW van Lunsen. "Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands." The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception, vol. 5, no. 2, 2000, pp. 141-146.
Pearson JT et al., 2021·Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care
Digital fertility awareness-based contraception offers an alternative choice for women who do not wish to use hormonal or invasive methods. The aim of this study was to investigate the key demographics of current users of the Natural Cycles app and assess the contraceptive outcomes of women preventing pregnancy in a UK cohort of women. This was a real world observational prospective observational study. The typical-use effectiveness of the method was calculated using both 13-cycle cumulative probability of pregnancy (life table analysis) and Pearl Index for the entire study cohort. Perfect-use PI was calculated using data from cycles where sexual intercourse during the fertile window was marked as protected and no unprotected sex was recorded on fertile days. 12,247 women were included in the study and contributed an average of 9.9 months of data for a total of 10,066 woman years of exposure. The mean age of the cohort was 30, mean BMI 23.4, the majority were in a stable relationship (83.2%) and had a university degree or higher (83%). The one year typical use, PI was 6.1 (95% CI: 5.6, 6.6) and with perfect-use was 2.0 (95% CI: 1.3, 2.8). 13 cycle pregnancy probability was 7.1%. This is the first study which describes the use of a digital contraceptive by women in the UK. It describes the demographics of users and how they correlate with the apps effectiveness at preventing pregnancy.
Contraception/ComparisonOvarian Reserve EffectsAMH and AFCContraceptive Impact on Markers
Landersoe SK et al., 2019·Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care
The aim of the study was to assess whether the ovarian reserve markers anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and antral follicle count (AFC) were lower among women using the progestin-only pill (POP) or levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) and similar to the decrease observed in combined oral contraceptive (COC) pill users. This retrospective study comprised 565 hormonal contraceptive users (COC, POP, LNG-IUS or contraceptive vaginal ring) and 983 non-hormonal contraceptive users, who were seen in two Danish fertility assessment and counselling clinics between 2015 and 2019. Adjusted multiple regression analysis was used to examine the differences in AMH and AFC between hormonal and non-hormonal contraceptive users. Compared with non-hormonal contraceptive users, AMH was 31.1% lower among COC users [95% confidence interval (CI) -39.6%, -25.9%; p < 0.001], 35.6% lower among POP users (95% CI -49.0%, -18.6%; p < 0.001) and 17.1% lower among LNG-IUS users (95% CI -31.4%, 0.002%; p = 0.052); no significant differences were seen among vaginal ring users. Compared with non-hormonal contraceptive users, AFC was 31.3% lower among COC users (95% CI -35.0%, -25.3%; p < 0.001) and 29.7% lower among POP users (-39.1%, -17.9%; p < 0.001); no significant differences were seen among LNG-IUS or vaginal ring users. Ovarian volume was more than 50% reduced among COC and vaginal ring users (p < 0.001) but was unchanged among POP and LNG-IUS users. Assessment of ovarian reserve markers among users of all types of hormonal contraception should be interpreted cautiously and the type of contraceptive method considered.
Berglund Scherwitzl E et al., 2019·Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care
The aim of the study was to compare the effect of previously used contraceptive methods on women's shortand long-term fecundity. Use of hormonal contraception (HC) was compared with the use of a contraceptive mobile application (app). This real-life prospective observational study comprised 2874 women who were attempting to become pregnant using the Natural Cycles mobile app to monitor their fertility. The women registered to use the app between August 2014 and June 2016 with the intention of planning a pregnancy and had previously either used the same app to prevent pregnancy or had recently discontinued HC use. We calculated the average time to pregnancy (TTP) for all women who became pregnant during the study and performed Kaplan-Meier life-table analysis to examine the cumulative probabilities of pregnancy for all women in the study. The average TTP was 2.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.1, 2.4) and 3.7 (95% CI 3.4, 3.9) cycles for women who had previously used Natural Cycles and HC, respectively. The time to reach 30% pregnancy probability for women previously on HC was 1.6 (95% CI 1.5, 1.8) times longer than for women previously using Natural Cycles. There was no significant difference in the 13 cycle cumulated pregnancy probability between the two groups. The results show that fertility awareness-based methods of contraception increase short-term pregnancy rates relative to HC, but have no effect on long-term pregnancy rates.
Fertility AwarenessSmartphone ApplicationsTypical and Perfect UseFertile Window Estimation
Jennings V et al., 2019·Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care
Dynamic Optimal Timing (Dot) is a smartphone application (app) that estimates the menstrual cycle fertile window based on the user's menstrual period start dates. Dot uses machine learning to adapt to cycles over time and informs users of 'low' and 'high' fertility days. We investigated Dot's effectiveness, calculating perfectand typical-use failure rates. This prospective, 13 cycle observational study (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02833922) followed 718 women who were using Dot to prevent pregnancy. Participants contributed 6616 cycles between February 2017 and October 2018, providing data on menstrual period start dates, daily sexual activity and prospective intent to prevent pregnancy. We determined pregnancy through participant-administered urine pregnancy tests and/or written or verbal confirmation. We calculated perfectand typical-use failure rates using multi-censoring, single-decrement life-table analysis, and conducted sensitivity, attrition and survival analyses. The perfect-use failure rate was calculated to be 1.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.9%, 2.9%) and the typical-use failure rate was 5.0% (95% CI: 3.4%, 6.6%) for women aged 18-39 (n = 718). Survival analyses identified no significant differences among age or racial/ethnic groups or women in different types of relationships. Attrition analyses revealed no significant sociodemographic differences, except in age, between women completing 13 cycles and those exiting the study earlier. Dot's effectiveness is within the range of other user-initiated contraceptive methods.