Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jan;8(1):20-25.
doi: 10.1177/2150131916666011. Epub 2016 Sep 19.

Beyond the Surface: Care Seeking Among Patients Initiating Contraceptive Implant in an Urban Federally Qualified Health Center Network

Anita Ravi  1 , Linda Prine  2 , Gabrielle deFiebre  3 , Susan E Rubin  4
Affiliations

Beyond the Surface: Care Seeking Among Patients Initiating Contraceptive Implant in an Urban Federally Qualified Health Center Network

Anita Ravi et al. J Prim Care Community Health. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: To describe rates of and reasons for follow-up among adolescents and adults receiving contraceptive implants in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).

Methods: Retrospective comparison of patient-initiated implant-related contacts during the 6 months postinsertion among adolescents (110) and adults (154) who had implants placed at a FQHC network.

Results: Forty percent of adolescents and 26% of adults initiated follow-up ( P = .016). Bleeding changes and discussing removal were the most common reasons for follow-up for both groups. Adolescents (5.5%) and adults (9.0%) had similar removal rates ( P = .348). However, among patients who discussed implant removal, adults were more likely to have removals compared with adolescents ( P = .002).

Conclusions: Other FQHCs may anticipate a similar experience to ours, where adolescents may be more likely than adults to initiate implant-related follow up, with removal rates of less than 10% at 6 months. Further study of physician decision making and patient autonomy regarding implantable contraception removal requests is warranted.

Keywords: FQHC; adolescent; community health centers; contraception; implantable contraception; primary care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Winner B, Peipert JF, Zhao Q, et al. Effectiveness of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1998-2007. - PubMed
    1. Peipert JF, Zhao Q, Allsworth JE, et al. Continuation and satisfaction of reversible contraception. Obstet Gynecol. 2011;117:1105-1113. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Committee Opinion 539, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Adolescents and long-acting reversible contraception: implants and intrauterine devices. Obstet Gynecol. 2012;120:983-988. - PubMed
    1. Adolescence Co. Contraception for adolescents. Pediatrics. 2014;134:e1244-e1256. - PubMed
    1. Kavanaugh ML, Jerman J, Finer LB. Changes in use of long-acting reversible contraceptive methods among U.S. women, 2009-2012. Obstet Gynecol. 2015;126:917-927. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources