Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on March 31, 2009
Human Reproduction 2009 24(7):1605-1611; doi:10.1093/humrep/dep076
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pregnancy outcome after levonorgestrel-only emergency contraception failure: a prospective cohort study
1 International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China 2 Shanghai Institute of Family Planning Technical Instruction, Shanghai 200030, China 3 Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research, Xie Tu Road, Shanghai 200032, China
4 Corresponding address. Tel: +86-21-64438803; E-mail: linanc2{at}yahoo.com and lily_yulin2003{at}yahoo.com
BACKGROUND: Levonorgestrel (LNG), as a dedicated emergency contraception (EC) product, has been available over-the-counter in China for 10 years. Until now, only a small number of deliveries after LNG–EC failure have been documented.
METHODS: This study was a prospective comparative cohort study. A group of 332 pregnant women who had used LNG–EC during the conception cycle was recruited, and matched to a group of 332 pregnant women without the exposure to LNG. Congenital malformations, perinatal complications and delivery circumstances were investigated in this study.
RESULTS: There were 31 pregnant women in the study group and 28 in the comparison group miscarried within 14 weeks of gestation. In the study and comparison groups, four malformations were found in each group. In the study group, both birthweight (3416 versus 3345 g, P = 0.040) and the sex ratio of birth (boys/girls, 1.14 versus 0.90, P = 0.153) were higher than in the comparison group. There were no statistically significant differences in the incidence of miscarriage or malformation or in the neonatal outcome between the two groups.
CONCLUSIONS: There was no association between the use of LNG–EC pills and the risk of major congenital malformations, pregnancy complications or any other adverse pregnancy outcomes in our study.
Key words: levonorgestrel/emergency contraception/pregnancy/congenital malformations
Submitted on November 27, 2008; resubmitted on February 22, 2009; accepted on March 9, 2009.
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
Related articles in Hum. Reprod.:
- Editor's Choice
- André Van Steirteghem
Hum. Reprod. 2009 24: 1531.[Extract] [Full Text]