Diabetics less likely to get contraceptive services, study finds

The study also found that diabetic women are more likely to be surgically sterilized than similarly aged women without chronic conditions. This finding highlights the need for diabetic women to receive more information about highly effective contraceptives, such as intrauterine devices (IUDs), said the study’s lead author, Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, M.D., University of Pittsburgh associate professor of medicine, epidemiology, gynecology and reproductive sciences and a UPMC physician.  Such contraceptives allow women time to control their blood sugars and increase the chance a woman will have a healthy baby when she wants one.

Researchers examined the medical records of 8,182 insured women with diabetes and 122,921 insured women who had no chronic conditions between January 2006 and June 2007. More than half, or 52 percent, of the women with diabetes had not received any contraceptive services compared to 38 percent of women without chronic conditions.

"Many clinicians remain unaware of the range of contraceptive options that can be safely used when diabetes complicates a woman's life. Just because diabetic women can’t take birth control pills doesn’t mean that surgical sterilization is their only choice,” said Dr. Schwarz, also an investigator at the Magee-Womens Research Institute. “IUDs, for example, are a great choice for women with diabetes. They are super-safe, as effective as having your tubes tied and are reversible.”

Provided by UPMC