Use of Hormonal Contraceptives by Women Registered in a Unit of Primary Health Care

Abstract

Introduction: reproductive health and family planning activities are recognized as necessary interventions of health services. Availability of contraceptive methods and access to information are essential for proper choice and these must be guaranteed to the public regardless of socioeconomic, cultural and religious conditions.

Objective: to understand the aspects related to the use of hormonal contraceptives for users registered in a Unit of Primary Health Care.

Method: this is a descriptive field study with quantitative approach conducted with 70 women enrolled in the family planning activities of a Basic Health Unit in the city of Cajazeiras, Paraíba, Brazil. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences – SPSS. 

Results: there was a greater number of women aged between 17 and 34 years, with 12 or more years of schooling, married, with a formal partner, asserting to be non-white with respect to race and agriculture workers/housewives with respect to occupation. On personal background, there was a higher occurrence of hypertension, smoking, anemia and gastritis. Regarding health conditions, most of the women had blood pressure considered normal, were overweight/obese and with low or moderate risk of cardiovascular disease. With respect to complications during the use of hormonal contraceptives, amenorrhea was more frequent along with pain or swelling in the lower limbs and mastalgia.

Conclusion: there is a strong need for improving the monitoring of women in reproductive planning with search for new strategies aiming at greater adherence to the program, as well as carrying out a more precise analysis of the clinical background of women in order to choose the most appropriate contraceptive method. In relation to health conditions, it was evident that most of the interviewed women were found with blood pressure considered normal.