CDC releases modified contraception recommendations

(HealthDay)—The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued modified recommendations for health care providers regarding the safe and effective use of contraceptive methods; the report, "U.S. Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use 2013," has been published in the June 14 early-release issue of the CDC's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.

Representatives from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's division of reproductive health adapted recommendations from World Health Organization Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use, 2nd Edition either due to new evidence or to make them more specific to U.S. practices. These newly released recommendations describe how various contraceptive methods can be used, but not who can use them, which is covered in the CDC's previously published companion document "U.S. Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, 2010" (U.S. MEC).

Among the topics covered in these recommendations are: how to help a woman initiate use of a contraceptive method; which examinations and tests are needed before initiating use of each contraceptive method; what regular follow-up is needed; and how to address situations that often arise during use, including missed pills and side effects such as unscheduled bleeding. Four new topics are addressed, including the effectiveness of female sterilization, extended use of combined hormonal methods and bleeding problems, starting regular contraception after use of emergency contraception, and determining when contraception is no longer needed.

"The recommendations in this report are intended to serve as a source of clinical guidance for health care providers," the authors write. "Health care providers should always consider the individual clinical circumstances of each person seeking family planning services."

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