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Evidence summaries

Immediate Versus Delayed Postabortal Insertion of Contraceptive Implant

Immediate postabortal insertion of contraceptive implant appears to decrease unintended pregnancy rate within six months after abortion and improve initiation rate compared to delayed insertion. Level of evidence: "B"

The certainty of evidence is downgraded by inconsistency across studies.

Summary

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 3 studies with a total of 1162 subjects. Unintended pregnancy within 6 months after abortion was lower with immediate insertion compared with delayed insertion (RR 0.25, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.77; 3 RCTs, n=1029). Immediate insertion of contraceptive implants improved the initiation rate compared to delayed insertion (RR 1.26 for medical abortion, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.32; 2 RCTs, n=1014 and RR 2.32 for surgical abortion, 95% CI 1.79 to 3.01; 1 RCT, n=148). There was no difference in failure of medical abortion between immediate or delayed insertion.

Clinical comments

Note

Date of latest search: 2022-11-07

References

  • Sothornwit J, Eamudomkarn N, Lumbiganon P et al. Immediate versus delayed postabortal insertion of contraceptive implant. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2022;(5):CD013565. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords