Actual use of the lactational amenorrhoea method.

OBJECTIVE: The lactational amenorrhoea method (LAM) is an effective contraceptive option in developing countries. Post-partum, of the women who accept to apply LAM, many never do. Our aim was to determine the actual use of LAM. METHODS: A group of 326 post-partum women who accepted LAM use were recruited. After 6 months, they were asked if they actually had applied the method or not. In a logistic regression analysis, nine socio-demographic and clinical variables were studied as predictors of actual LAM use. An alpha level was set at 0.05. RESULTS: Overall, of the 326 women, only 61 (18.7%) actually applied LAM. The mean duration of LAM use was 4.3 +/- 0.2 months. The main reason for not applying LAM was that women thought the method was ineffective (66.0%). The variable time of menses resumption emerged as a predictor of LAM use (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Despite post-partum acceptance, most women did not actually apply LAM. In our setting as well as in other developing countries, regular contacts with a health care provider could improve LAM use.

Postpartum contraceptive acceptance in León, Mexico: a multivariate analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to identify the reasons for the acceptance or rejection of contraceptive methods among postpartum women at the Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in León, Mexico. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study of 1025 postpartum women was undertaken. Reasons for acceptance or refusal of contraceptives were registered in a written survey. Twelve sociodemographic variables were included as predictors in a logistic regression analysis; the acceptance or refusal was the dependent variable, and statistical significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS: There were 513 patients who accepted contraceptives (50.0%) and 512 (50.0%) who refused them. The main reasons for accepting contraceptives were definitive desire for no more children (17.0%) and satisfaction with previous contraceptive methods (21.5%). The main contraceptive methods chosen were intrauterine device (67.7%) and tubal sterilization (28.5%). Reasons for contraceptive refusal were husband's rejection (33.2%) and delaying contraceptive use until after finishing the postpartum period (31.8%). In the logistic regression model, the variables previous deliveries (p < 0.001), number of Cesarean sections (p < 0.001) and women's level of education (p < 0.02) were included as predictors of acceptance. CONCLUSIONS: Previous deliveries, previous Cesarean sections and women's level of education were significant in contraception acceptance. The rejection of contraceptives was mainly attributed to husbands.

[Factors influencing contraceptive acceptance or refusal in puerperium]. / Factores que influyen en la aceptación o rechazo de métodos anticonceptivos en el puerperio.

Throughout a cross-section observational descriptive study, 1,010 postpartum patients were included. Data were collected directly with a survey, and women were divided into two groups: 507 (50.20%) women who accept postpartum contraceptive use and 503 (49.80%) women, which did not accept postpartum contraceptive use. Variables with statistical significance related with postpartum contraceptive acceptance or refusal were: patient age (P < 0.05), marital status (P < 0.001), pregnancies number (P < 0.001), parity (P < 0.01), cesarean section number (P < 0.001) and previous contraceptive use (P < 0.001). Postpartum contraceptives more accepted were: intrauterine device (67.85%), and tubal section (28.20%). Main reasons for postpartum contraceptive acceptance were: desire of no more children (27.02%), satisfaction with previous contraceptive methods (21.4%) and gynecologist counseling during prenatal care and delivery room (18.55%). Main reasons for postpartum contraceptive refusals were: husband's rejection of postpartum contraceptive use (33.6%), and delay in postpartum contraceptive use after finishing postpartum (32.0%). It was concluded that according to presence of significant differences between both groups in some variables, these variables should be kept in mind by physicians in promoting contraceptive methods in a personalized manner during prenatal care. Likewise, owing to husband's rejection of postpartum contraceptive use is needed to incorporate the husbands systematically to the prenatal care and to try convincing them of accepting postpartum contraceptive use.

[Prediction of fetal wellbeing with Doppler flowmetric profile in pregnant hypertensive women]. / Predicción del bienestar fetal mediante el perfil flujométrico Doppler en embarazadas con hipertensión.

In order to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the Doppler ultrasonography profile in the assessment of fetal wellbeing in hypertensive pregnancies, 171 women at 36-42 week's gestation were included. A Doppler color ultrasound scanning was made and the score of the Doppler ultrasonography profile were correlated with the neonatal outcome, with one minute Apgar's score or admission to neonatal intensive care unit as main outcome. The Doppler ultrasonography profile includes: umbilical artery Doppler flow velocity waveforms, amniotic fluid volume, fetal movements, placental grading and fetal growth pattern. In 145 cases (84.7%) had gestational hypertension without proteinuria, 22 patients (12.9%) had chronic hypertension and only in 4 cases (2.4%) preeclampsia was found. In 101 patients (59%) a cesarean section was made, 66 cases delivered normally and 4 (2.4%) patients had complicated vaginal delivery. Scores of diagnostic tests were: sensitivity 44%, specificity 99%, positive predictive value 80% and negative predictive value 97%, with an average accuracy of 71.5%. The multiple logistic regression analysis with 5 parameters of the Doppler ultrasonography profile had a determination coefficient (R2 = 0.15125) P < 0.01, and umbilical artery Doppler flow velocity waveforms had a regression coefficient--31.3959 (P < 0.05). It was concluded that the Doppler ultrasonography profile is a test with high predictive values in assessing fetal wellbeing in hypertensive pregnancies and the umbilical artery Doppler flow velocity alone is a significant variable in the multiple logistic regression analysis.

[Color Doppler flowmetry values in fetuses with nuchal cord encirclement]. / Valores de flujometría Doppler color en fetos con circular de cordón.

In order to evaluate the presence of nuchal cord entanglement and to measure resistance index with Doppler color ultrasonography, a prospective, observational, cross-sectional study was carried out, 132 low risk term pregnant women were included, 50 of them had umbilical cord encirclement (37%), the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values were 92%, 87%, 81% and 95%, respectively. McNemar'test for discordance had a p = 0.121 in comparing ultrasonography result with the gold standard. Patients with nuchal cord entanglement had higher frequency of cesarean section (70%, p < 0.05) than those without it. On the other hand, normal vaginal delivery was more common (46%, p < 0.05) in patients without nuchal coiling of the umbilical cord. There were no significant difference in evaluating acute fetal distress, meconium stained amniotic fluid, newborn Apgar scores at one and five minutes, birth weight, neonatal intensive care unit admissions and intrapartum stillbirths. In our patients with nuchal cord entanglement the resistance index average values were 0.59 and those without nuchal cord were 0.60 (p = 0.712). We concluded that color flow Doppler ultrasonography is a reliable tool to detect nuchal coiling of the umbilical cord, and therefore Doppler color waveforms assessment in nuchal cord entanglements might helpful for clinicians to decide a closer surveillance in labor by using intrapartum cardiotocography.