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Cross-sectional study of contraceptive use among Chinese women of reproductive age: results based on a mobile application (APP)-derived data

  • General Gynecology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the contraceptive status among Chinese women of reproductive age and factors associated with contraceptive methods.

Methods

A cross-sectional study from November 2015 to January 2016 was conducted. We used APP to collect demographics and contraceptive use information of women aged 14–44 years in China.

Results

A total of 23,669 women completed the study. After data cleaning, 19,768 (83.5%) women were included in the final analysis. The prevalence of contraceptive use was 78.9%; while 21.05% of women did not use any method, condoms (40.10%), rhythm, or withdrawal (31.03%) were the most commonly used methods. When contraceptive methods were divided into four categories—long-acting contraceptives (LAC), short-acting contraceptive (SAC), Others, and “No use”—the prevalence was 6.1% (601/19,678), 40.8% (8022/19,678), 35.1% (6912/19,678), and 21.1% (4143/19,678), respectively. Women with a high level of education, being unmarried, and sexually active women tended to choose SAC; married women were associated with LAC usage. Women with irregular menstrual cycle used a high proportion of emergency contraception.

Conclusions

The prevalence of contraceptive use was 78.9%, with condom use being most prominent. Young women of reproductive age have low awareness of contraception. Relevant departments should take necessary measures to improve this situation.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Beijing YOULEHUO Network Technology company for providing the APP and the Clinical Research Institute of Peking University for their guidance and assistance with data analysis. We also wish to thank all members of our research group.

Funding

This study was no funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China

    Lele Mao, Wenpei Bai, Yingfang Zhou, Sisi Xi & Xing Chen

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Wenpei Bai & Yu Sun

  3. Department of Medical Statistics Office, Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Yuliang Huo

  4. Department of Medical Statistics Office, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China

    Chen Yao

Authors
  1. Lele Mao
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  2. Wenpei Bai
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  3. Yuliang Huo
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  4. Yingfang Zhou
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  5. Chen Yao
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  6. Sisi Xi
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  7. Xing Chen
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  8. Yu Sun
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Contributions

WB and YH: protocol/project development. LM: data collection and management, data analysis, manuscript writing/editing. YZ and CY: data collection and management, data analysis. SX, YS and XC: data collection and management.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wenpei Bai or Yuliang Huo.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Supplementary material 1 (PDF 112 kb)

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Cite this article

Mao, L., Bai, W., Huo, Y. et al. Cross-sectional study of contraceptive use among Chinese women of reproductive age: results based on a mobile application (APP)-derived data. Arch Gynecol Obstet 297, 1193–1199 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-018-4687-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-018-4687-7

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