Use and knowledge of oral contraception in higher education students of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança and of Macau Artigo de Conferência uri icon

resumo

  • The oral contraception (OC), consisting of estrogens and progestogens in different dosage and combination, is one of the most used and effective contraceptive methods. Objectives: The present study aimed to characterize the use of OC and evaluate the knowledge related to the effectiveness and adverse effects of this contraceptive method. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed through application of a questionnaire to 206 female students of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) (aged 22.8 ±18.0 years) and 150 of Polytechnic Institute of Macau (IPM) with 20.6 ±1.5 years. Results: The results showed that 71.4% of IPB students use OC, especially the Minigeste® or its generic, and began the consumption at 17.6 years old. For IPM students, the aged of start of use is similar (17.3 years), however the consumption is much lower (1.3%). The differences of the use between the two groups are statistically significant (p=0,00001). Additionally, 30.0% of the IPB students use OC for 3 to 4 years while 60.0% of IPM students for less than a year. The amount of the experienced adverse effects is equivalent in both groups (32.0% and 33.3% for IPB and IPM, respectively). The knowledge related to the adverse effects is reasonable for the two groups with 29,6% and 34,5% to IPB and IPM students, respectively. However, the knowledge about the effectiveness of OC in the IPB students is higher (very good, 41.7%) than that of IPM (very weak, 61.3%), confirmed by Student's t test (p=0,00001). Conclusions: This study revealed that IPB students are the most users of CO and, globally, have higher knowledge about the thematic.

data de publicação

  • setembro 1, 2016