Estimates of pregnancies averted through California's family planning waiver program in 2002.California's family planning family planning Use of measures designed to regulate the number and spacing of children within a family, largely to curb population growth and ensure each family’s access to limited resources. program, Family PACT (Planning, Access, Care and Treatment), was launched in 1997 * and grew rapidly, serving 750,000 clients during its first year of operation and more than 1.5 million in 2003. It replaced a limited family planning program that had served approximately 500,000 women and men annually through state contracts with about 100 community and public clinics. Under the new program, all Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid program) providers in the state are eligible to participate, and provider reimbursement Reimbursement Payment made to someone for out-of-pocket expenses has incurred. has been changed from a contractual arrangement to a fee-for-service system. By FY 2002-2003, nearly 3,000 providers, including private practitioners as well as providers at community and public health clinics, were participating in the program. (1) Family PACT plays an important role in providing family planning services for low-income women and men in California. Many low-income women in the state do not have private insurance ([dagger]) and do not qualify for coverage for contraceptive contraceptive /con·tra·cep·tive/ (-sep´tiv) 1. diminishing the likelihood of or preventing conception. 2. an agent that so acts. services through other public programs. For example, Medi-Cal almost exclusively serves current and recent participants in the California welfare program, (2) for which many low-income women are not eligible because they do not have a child, do not meet residency A duration of stay required by state and local laws that entitles a person to the legal protection and benefits provided by applicable statutes. States have required state residency for a variety of rights, including the right to vote, the right to run for public office, the requirements, have incomes above the federal poverty level or have exceeded the program's time limits. California's Title X program provides general support for education, outreach Outreach is an effort by an organization or group to connect its ideas or practices to the efforts of other organizations, groups, specific audiences or the general public. and infrastructure to certain public and nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. family planning agencies, but it does not cover clinical services for individuals. (3) In contrast, any person whose income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level and who has no other public or private source of reproductive health Within the framework of WHO's definition of health[1] as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene care coverage is eligible for Family PACT services. The program has several innovative features that have contributed to its rapid growth and client acceptability. Determination of client eligibility and enrollment are performed at each clinical site and are based on client self-report of family size and income; services are reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis; the service network includes both private- and public-sector providers; and clinic offices as well as pharmacies This article is a list of major pharmacies (also known as chemists and drugstores) by country. Australia Pharmacies in Australia are mostly independently-owned by pharmacists, often operated as franchises of retail brands offered by the three major are able to distribute over-the-counter and prescription drugs prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, . Family PACT provides all methods of contraception contraception: see birth control. contraception Birth control by prevention of conception or impregnation. The most common method is sterilization. The most effective temporary methods are nearly 99% effective if used consistently and correctly. approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as male and female sterilization Female sterilization The process of permanently ending a woman's ability to conceive by tying off or cutting apart the Fallopian tubes. Mentioned in: Tubal Ligation , HIV testing HIV test Various tests have been used to detect HIV and production of antibodies thereto; some HTs shown below are no longer actively used, but are listed for completeness and context. See HIV, Immunoblot. , screening and treatment for STDs, and limited cancer screening and infertility infertility, inability to conceive or carry a child to delivery. The term is usually limited to situations where the couple has had intercourse regularly for one year without using birth control. services. (4) In 1999, after an initial evaluation of the program demonstrated adherence adherence /ad·her·ence/ (ad-her´ens) the act or condition of sticking to something. immune adherence to standards of care Standards of care are medical or psychological treatment guidelines, and can be general or specific. They specify appropriate treatment protocols based on scientific evidence, and collaboration between medical and/or psychological professionals involved in the treatment of a given and improvement in access to services, California received a federal Medicaid funding waiver The voluntary surrender of a known right; conduct supporting an inference that a particular right has been relinquished. The term waiver is used in many legal contexts. * to help support Family PACT. The waiver funded the development of outreach and recruitment programs to improve access to family planning services for hard-to-reach populations (e.g., adolescents, men and residents of underserved counties) as well as an expansion in the scope of services provided under the program. As part of the initial evaluation, we estimated that more than 108,000 unintended pregnancies were averted a·vert tr.v. a·vert·ed, a·vert·ing, a·verts 1. To turn away: avert one's eyes. 2. through contraceptive services provided through Family PACT during the program's first year of operation (FY 1997-1998); these pregnancies would have resulted in an estimated 50,000 births, 41,000 induced abortions in·duced abortion n. Abortion caused intentionally by the administration of drugs or by mechanical means. induced abortion , 16,000 spontaneous abortions spon·ta·ne·ous abortion n. A naturally occurring termination of a pregnancy. Also called miscarriage. spontaneous abortion and 1,000 ectopic pregnancies ectopic pregnancy or extrauterine pregnancy Condition in which a fertilized egg is imbedded outside the uterus (see fertilization). Early on, it may resemble a normal pregnancy, with hormonal changes, amenorrhea, and development of a placenta. . (5) In the years that followed, several changes occurred that may have affected the number of pregnancies averted through the program. Most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent" above all, most especially , the number of clients served annually doubled. (6) In addition, new contraceptive methods Noun 1. contraceptive method - birth control by the use of devices (diaphragm or intrauterine device or condom) or drugs or surgery contraception birth control, birth prevention, family planning - limiting the number of children born were introduced after the initial evaluation: Dedicated emergency contraception Emergency Contraception Definition Emergency contraception or emergency birth control uses either emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) or a Copper-T intrauterine device (IUD) to help prevent pregnancy following unprotected vaginal intercourse. products were added to program benefits in 1999 and 2001, and the contraceptive patch A contraceptive patch is a transdermal patch applied to the skin that releases synthetic estrogen and progestin hormones to prevent pregnancy. They are thought to have the same effectiveness as the combined oral contraceptive pill. and ring were added in 2002. In this analysis, we update our estimates of pregnancies averted using data from 2002, explore the range of possible estimates and examine the factors that have had the greatest effect on the number of pregnancies averted. METHODS We employed the same methodology that we established for the initial evaluation of Family PACT. (7) Thus, we estimated the number of pregnancies averted through use of Family PACT services to be the difference between the number of pregnancies expected in the absence of the program (taking into account participants' contraceptive use before enrollment) and the number expected among women using the methods provided through the program. To update these estimates for 2002, we used new data regarding the number and characteristics of clients served and the array of contraceptive methods dispensed dis·pense v. dis·pensed, dis·pens·ing, dis·pens·es v.tr. 1. To deal out in parts or portions; distribute. See Synonyms at distribute. 2. To prepare and give out (medicines). 3. . To estimate the probability that Family PACT clients would become pregnant if the program did not exist, we used clients' self-reports of contraceptive use prior to enrollment, determined from a review conducted in 2000-2001 of medical records from 868 women who were new to Family PACT and were not pregnant or seeking pregnancy. Contraceptive Coverage We estimated the number of months of contraceptive coverage provided under the Family PACT program on the basis of paid claims data on the quantity and type of contraceptives dispensed. The coverage for long-term methods (tubal Tubal (t `bəl), in the Bible, son of Japheth. ligations, IUDs and implants) was calculated as
the number of months between the provision date and December 2003. We
imposed this two-year cap to avoid predicting pregnancies far into the
future; the number of women receiving long-term methods through the
program was relatively small (just 2% of women receiving contraceptive
methods), so excluding the full duration of contraceptive benefit did
not have a large effect on our estimate of pregnancies averted.Because clients do not necessarily use all of the contraceptives they receive, the number of months of contraceptive coverage for short-term methods, such as condoms and oral contraceptives Oral Contraceptives Definition Oral contraceptives are medicines taken by mouth to help prevent pregnancy. They are also known as the Pill, OCs, or birth control pills. , was adjusted to account for method discontinuation dis·con·tin·u·a·tion n. A cessation; a discontinuance. Noun 1. discontinuation - the act of discontinuing or breaking off; an interruption (temporary or permanent) discontinuance . For oral contraceptives, we assumed that a woman who did not return for refills used half of the pills dispensed to her. We assumed that women who received one packet of emergency contraceptives used it; however, if women were given more than one packet (i.e., as advance provision), we assumed that 50% used the second packet. (8) For condoms and other barrier methods, we assumed, given findings of the medical record review, that the supplies dispensed by the clinics provided two months of contraceptive coverage. The exact quantity of supplies dispensed by pharmacies was available, and we assumed a month of protection for every 12 condoms dispensed. Each depot medroxyprogesterone acetate med·rox·y·pro·ges·ter·one acetate n. A progestin used to treat menstrual disorders and in hormone replacement therapy, often in combination with estrogen. injection was assumed to provide three months of contraceptive coverage. Pregnancies To estimate the number of pregnancies among clients (with or without Family PACT), we modeled the month-by-month experience of a woman who is at risk for pregnancy, ([dagger]) beginning with the month when the contraceptive was dispensed and ending with the last month of contraceptive coverage. For each month, we calculated the probability that the woman would become pregnant, based on three factors: the failure rate of the method used (i.e., the proportion of users who experience a pregnancy in a year), age-specific fecundity fecundity /fe·cun·di·ty/ (fe-kun´dit-e) 1. in demography, the physiological ability to reproduce, as opposed to fertility. 2. ability to produce offspring rapidly and in large numbers. and the estimated probability of pregnancy in previous months. Modeling pregnancies averted by month allowed us to use specific contraceptive dispensing dispensing provision of drugs or medicines as set out properly on a lawful prescription. A prescription can only be filled, the drugs supplied, by a registered pharmacist, veterinarian, dentist or member of the medical profession. data on months of coverage, rather than assuming a year of coverage for each client. It also allowed for repeat pregnancies within a year, which is a common outcome among women who use low-efficacy methods and terminate pregnancies in abortion. * For this analysis, we made the same assumptions about contraceptive failure rates and pregnancy outcomes as we did in the original study (Table 1). The contraceptive patch and ring were assumed to have the same probability of failure as oral contraceptives. Failure rates for contraceptives were adapted from Trussell and colleagues. (9) Because the outcomes of unintended pregnancies differ from those of intended pregnancies, the distribution of pregnancy outcomes used in this study was adapted from Henshaw. (10) Thus, we estimated the number of miscarriages as 10% of abortions plus 20% of births, and then readjusted the distribution of pregnancy outcomes to sum to 100%. We assumed the number of ectopic pregnancies to be 1% of the number of unintended pregnancies. (11) For women younger than 20, we estimated that 49% of pregnancies ended in birth, 36% in induced abortion, 14% in spontaneous abortion and 1% in ectopic pregnancy. For women 20 or older, we estimated that 45% of pregnancies resulted in birth, 39% in induced abortion, 15% in spontaneous abortion and 1% in ectopic pregnancy. Sensitivity Analyses We examined the sensitivity of our estimates to changes in our assumptions about contraceptive failure rates, contraceptive continuation and contraceptive use in the absence of the program. To examine the effects of inconsistent or ineffective contraceptive use on our estimates, we calculated how many pregnancies would be averted if women experienced contraceptive failure rates that were substantially higher than the national average--specifically, 175% of the rates in Table 1, for all methods that involve risk of user error or discontinuation. (12) To model ideal contraceptive use, we estimated the number of pregnancies that would be averted if failure rates matched the "perfect-use" rates cited in Contraceptive Technology (we used the 1998 edition, for consistency with our previous evaluation). (13) In addition, we examined the effect of our adjustment to account for method discontinuation by estimating the number of pregnancies that would be averted if women who did not return used all (rather than half) of the contraceptives they received. Finally, we estimated the number of pregnancies that would be averted in the absence of Family PACT in three less realistic scenarios: Women remain sexually active but use no method of contraception; half of women abstain from abstain from verb refrain from, avoid, decline, give up, stop, refuse, cease, do without, shun, renounce, eschew, leave off, keep from, forgo, withhold from, forbear, desist from, deny yourself, kick ( intercourse INTERCOURSE. Communication; commerce; connexion by reciprocal dealings between persons or nations, as by interchange of commodities, treaties, contracts, or letters. ; and all contraceptive users switch to condoms because prescription methods are too expensive without subsidized sub·si·dize tr.v. sub·si·dized, sub·si·diz·ing, sub·si·diz·es 1. To assist or support with a subsidy. 2. To secure the assistance of by granting a subsidy. services. RESULTS Methods Used Prior to Program Enrollment Before receiving Family PACT contraceptive services, 27% of female clients were using no method of contraception, and 3% were using natural family planning natural family planning Biological birth control Any FP that does not rely on artificial agents–eg, OCs, 'morning-after' pill, spermicidal foam, RU-486 or devices–eg, condoms, diaphragms, IUDs to prevent conception Methods Rhythm–calendar method, methods, such as periodic abstinence abstinence: see fasting; temperance movements. and withdrawal (Table 2). Nearly four in 10 women (38%) were using condoms, and the remaining 32% were using hormonal hormonal, adj/n beneficial component in some essential oils that helps to bring hormone secretions to normal levels. hormonal emanating from or pertaining to hormones. methods or IUDs. Women aged 15-19 were more likely than women aged 20-44 to be using condoms and less likely to be using hormonal or intrauterine contraceptives intrauterine contraceptive n. An intrauterine device. . The profile of method use prior to program enrollment has changed in the years since the initial evaluation of Family PACT services. Most notably, condom 1. condom - The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes. Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on) not only impedes the practice of SEX but has also been shown to have a high failure use has increased among teenagers. Fifty-two percent of women aged 15-19 entering the program were using condoms in 2000, compared with 31% at the earlier evaluation. Condom use also increased, although to a lesser degree (from 25% to 34%), among women aged 20-44. This shift toward condom use was the result of reductions in the proportions of women who were using no method of contraception or hormonal methods. As a result of the substantial reduction in the use of no method among women aged 15-19, the estimated annual pregnancy rate in this group (assuming the failure rates shown in Table 1) declined from 55% to 47% between 1997-1998 and 2002 (not shown). The estimated pregnancy rate among women aged 20-44 remained stable (43%) during this time period. Contraceptive Dispensing in 2002 Nearly a million women received contraceptive methods through Family PACT in 2002 (Table 3)-202,000 women aged 15-19 and 724,000 women aged 20-44. Claims included payment for oral contraceptives for about 478,000 clients, condoms and other barrier methods for 412,000, injectable in·ject·a·ble adj. Capable of being injected. Used of a drug. n. A drug or medicine that can be injected. contraceptives for 187,000 and long-term methods for 21,000. Emergency contraception was dispensed without any other method to 27,000 clients. About 7,000 women received the new contraceptive patch, and 300 received the contraceptive ring. Many women received more than one type of method, either for dual use or because they switched methods during the year. The claims paid for female clients during 2002 provided each woman with an average of 6.9 months of contraceptive coverage. Women aged 15-19 received 0.7 fewer months of contraceptive coverage than women aged 20-44 (6.4 vs. 7.1). Part of this difference can be attributed to younger women's greater reliance on short-acting methods. However, even among clients receiving short-acting methods, younger women received slightly less contraceptive coverage: two weeks less of oral and injectable contraceptive coverage and one week less of barrier method supplies. Overall, nearly 6.4 million woman-months of contraception were dispensed through Family PACT during 2002. Oral contraceptives accounted for the majority (57%) of the woman-months of contraception dispensed, followed by barrier methods (19%), the injectable (18%) and long-term methods (6%). Coverage from long-term methods is underestimated because of the two-year cap. The contraceptive patch and ring were not covered not covered Health care adjective Referring to a procedure, test or other health service to which a policy holder or insurance beneficiary is not entitled under the terms of the policy or payment system–eg, Medicare. Cf Covered. by the program until November 2002 and thus accounted for a negligible Please [ improve this article] by rewriting this article or section in an . proportion of the methods dispensed during the year; together, the patch, the ring and emergency contraceptives provided less than 1% of woman-months of protection. The proportion of contraceptive protection provided by barrier methods in 2002 (19%) represented a substantial increase from the proportion in FY 1997-1998 (12%). (14) The proportion provided by oral contraceptives declined from 63% to 57%. Pregnancies Averted On the basis of the quantity and type of contraceptive methods dispensed, we estimate that because of method failure and noncompliance noncompliance failure of the owner to follow instructions, particularly in administering medication as prescribed; a cause of a less than expected response to treatment. noncompliance , women participating in Family PACT experienced almost 25,000 pregnancies during the time they were using contraceptives (Table 4, page 130). If these women had been using the same method array as women new to the program had been using prior to enrollment, they would have experienced 230,000 pregnancies. The difference, 205,000 pregnancies, is an estimate of the number of pregnancies averted through Family PACT services in 2002. Among women aged 15-19, an estimated 43,600 pregnancies were averted; these pregnancies would have led to 21,400 births, 15,700 abortions, 6,100 spontaneous abortions and 400 ectopic pregnancies. Among women aged 20-44, the program prevented an estimated 161,300 pregnancies, which would have resulted in 72,600 unintended births, 62,900 abortions, 24,200 spontaneous abortions and 1,600 ectopic pregnancies. The number of pregnancies averted through contraceptive services in 2002 was nearly twice the figure from 1997-1998, when 108,000 pregnancies (including 41,500 induced abortions and 49,600 unintended births) were averted. We examined the extent to which several reasonable alternative scenarios affected our estimates of pregnancies averted. The impact of these alternative scenarios ranged from a 3% decrease in our estimates to a 21% increase (Table 5, page 130). First, if women who used methods subject to user error were to experience failure rates 175% of those in our base scenario, the Family PACT program would avert an additional 28,400 pregnancies (14% more than we estimated), primarily because in the absence of the program, women would become more likely to rely on methods that require user intervention. If women were to attain perfect-use contraceptive failure rates, the number of pregnancies averted would be 3% less than in our base scenario. If women in the program achieved these lower contraceptive failure rates, perhaps through education and counseling provided by the program, but women outside the program did not, then the number of pregnancies averted would be 10% above the base estimate. Finally, if women used all of the contraceptive supplies provided to them during the year, then an additional 42,000 pregnancies would be averted, 21% more than in our base case. We also created three additional but less likely scenarios of what would happen in the absence of Family PACT. First, if women used no method at all in the absence of the program but continued to be sexually active, the number of pregnancies averted would increase by almost 200% over the base case, to 582,000. If half of the women abstained from intercourse in the absence of contraceptive services, the number of pregnancies averted would be reduced to 90,000, less than half of the base estimate. Finally, if women who were using a prescription method when they entered the program switched to condoms in the absence of the program, the number of pregnancies averted would be 12,400 (6%) higher than the base estimate. DISCUSSION The growth of the Family PACT program has been substantial. The number of women served annually doubled during the program's first five years, and the Medicaid waiver that was granted in 1999 allowed for the expansion of services. This study indicates that the increase in the number of women using contraceptive services resulted in a significant reduction in unintended pregnancy. This reexamination re·ex·am·ine also re-ex·am·ine tr.v. re·ex·am·ined, re·ex·am·in·ing, re·ex·am·ines 1. To examine again or anew; review. 2. Law To question (a witness) again after cross-examination. of the program's impact on fertility has yielded new insight into what makes a family planning program effective at reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy. Because all contraceptive methods substantially reduce the risk of pregnancy, the ability of a program to prevent pregnancy lies primarily in its provision of contraceptive methods to women who would otherwise not use them. Enabling women to switch from methods with relatively high failure rates (such as condoms) to more effective methods is also an important, albeit less powerful, factor. Evidence for these conclusions is provided by the scenarios that produced the extreme estimates of pregnancies averted. Were all female clients to use no contraceptive method in the absence of Family PACT, almost 582,000 pregnancies would have been averted by the program. If half of the women in the program ceased having sexual intercourse sexual intercourse or coitus or copulation Act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract (see reproductive system). without Family PACT services, the program would have averted only 90,000 pregnancies. And if the women who entered the program using a prescription method of contraception switched to over-the-counter methods in the absence of subsidized services, the effect on the estimated number of pregnancies averted would be relatively small--a 6% increase. Our estimate of 205,000 pregnancies averted appears to be robust to assumptions about failure rates. The estimate would increase by as much as 14% if women were to experience very high contraceptive failure rates or decrease by 3% if women were to experience perfect-use failure rates. Our efforts to account for method discontinuation by assuming that women who do not return for subsequent visits use only half of the short-term methods dispensed reduced the estimate by 21%. For this study, it was our intention to provide a conservative estimate of pregnancies averted. Because Family PACT does not cover abortion services or prenatal care prenatal care, n the health care provided the mother and fetus before childbirth. , the claims data do not provide precise information about pregnancies and pregnancy outcomes experienced by program participants. To be conservative, we estimated pregnancies only for months in which contraceptive coverage was provided through the program, allowing for method discontinuation and capping the duration of coverage at two years. In addition, we did not estimate pregnancies averted through contraceptive distribution to males, who make up about 10% of the program's clients. (15) Our sensitivity analyses indicate that the most pronounced effects on our estimate come from altering assumptions about what women would do in the absence of Family PACT. In our models, we assumed that women's method use in the absence of the program would be similar to that of Family PACT clients at the time of their first visit. We chose this scenario because it is more conservative and realistic than assuming that women would use no method of contraception in the absence of the program. It also reflects clients' increased reliance on condoms prior to their initial Family PACT visit: During the program's first five years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time proportion of new female clients who had been using condoms grew substantially; the increase was particularly large (from 31% to 52%) among women younger than 20. In both age-groups, most of the increase in condom use prior to enrollment was due to a decline in the use of more effective methods of contraception, although the proportion of women using no method decreased as well, particularly among younger women. The net effect of these changes is that the estimated annual probability of pregnancy among women younger than 20 in the absence of Family PACT has declined from 55% to 47%, thus approaching the 43% pregnancy rate seen among women 20 or older. Whether women would continue using a method in the absence of Family PACT depends on their ability to pay for contraceptives or to find other low-cost sources of supplies. Some women might stop using their prior method altogether because they could no longer afford to pay for contraceptives out of pocket. Others might stop having intercourse in the absence of family planning services, although we suspect that this response would not be widespread, given the high rates of pregnancy and abortion experienced by this client population. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. our review of Family PACT medical records, three-quarters of women--including more than a third of those younger than 20--had had at least one pregnancy, and almost one in five had had at least one abortion. Unintended pregnancy is a widespread problem that can have serious consequences. It is associated with significant, negative public health outcomes and social burdens as well as personal costs. (16) Averting a·vert tr.v. a·vert·ed, a·vert·ing, a·verts 1. To turn away: avert one's eyes. 2. 205,000 pregnancies would save federal, state and local governments an estimated $1.1 billion over two years, or $2.76 for every dollar expended ex·pend tr.v. ex·pend·ed, ex·pend·ing, ex·pends 1. To lay out; spend: expending tax revenues on government operations. See Synonyms at spend. 2. on family planning services. (17) Thus, preventing these pregnancies brings not only personal and social benefits but significant public-sector savings on health care, social services social services Noun, pl welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs social services npl → servicios mpl sociales and education for women and their children. Acknowledgments This research was funded by the State of California Office of Family Planning through a contract to the Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco . The authors acknowledge the State of California Office of Family Planning for its support of this evaluation, with special thanks to Susann Steinberg. REFERENCES (1.) California Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
(2.) Legislative Analyst's Office, Analysis of the 2001-2002 budget bill, California medical assistance program (MediCal), <http://www.lao.ca.gov/analysis_2001/health_ss/hss_7_Medi-Cal.htm>, accessed Sept. 15, 2005. (3.) Cole M, California Family Health Council, personal communication, Jun. 30, 2006. (4.) California Department of Health Services Office of Family Planning, 2005, op. cit. (see reference 1). (5.) Foster DG et al., Expanded state-funded family planning services: estimating pregnancies averted by the Family PACT Program in California, 1997-1998, American Journal of Public Health The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) is a peer reviewed monthly journal of the American Public Health Association (APHA). The Journal also regularly publishes authoritative editorials and commentaries and serves as a forum for the analysis of health policy. , 2004, 94(8): 1341-1346. (6.) California Department of Health Services Office of Family Planning, 2005, op. cit. (see reference 1). (7.) Foster DG et al., 2004, op. cit. (see reference 5). (8.) Glasier A and Baird D, The effects of self-administering emergency contraception, New England Journal of Medicine The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. , 1998, 339(1): 1-4. (9.) Trussell J et al., Medical care cost-savings from adolescent contraceptive use, Family Planning Perspectives, 1997, 29(6):248-255 & 295; and Trussell J, Contraceptive efficacy, in: Hatcher hatch 1 n. 1. a. An opening, as in the deck of a ship, in the roof or floor of a building, or in an aircraft. b. The cover for such an opening. c. A hatchway. d. R et al., eds., Contraceptive Technology, 17th ed., New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Ardent (Ardent Software, Inc., Westboro, MA) A database vendor formed in 1998 as the merger of VMARK Software, Unidata and O2 Technology. Its products included the UniVerse and UniData databases and DataStage data warehouse utility. Media, 1998, pp. 779-844. (10.) Henshaw SK, Unintended pregnancy in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(1):24-29. (11.) Saraiya MM et al., Estimates of the annual number of clinically recognized pregnancies in the United States, 1981-1991, American Journal of Epidemiology epidemiology, field of medicine concerned with the study of epidemics, outbreaks of disease that affect large numbers of people. Epidemiologists, using sophisticated statistical analyses, field investigations, and complex laboratory techniques, investigate the cause , 1999, 149(11):1025-1029. (12.) Trussell J and Vaughan B, Contraceptive failure, method-related discontinuation and resumption RESUMPTION. To reassume; to promise again; as, the resumption of payment of specie by the banks is general. It also signifies to take things back; as the government has resumed the possession of all the lands which have not been paid for according to the requisitions of the law, and the of use: results from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31(2):64-72 & 93. (13.) Trussell J, 1998, op. cit. (see reference 9). (14.) Foster DG et al., 2004, op. cit. (see reference 5). (15.) California Department of Health Services Office of Family Planning, 2005, op. cit. (see reference 1). (16.) Brown S and Eisenberg L, The Best Intentions: Unintended Pregnancy and the Well-Being of Children and Families, Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1995. (17.) Amaral Get al., Public savings from preventing unintended pregnancy: cost-benefit analysis cost-benefit analysis In governmental planning and budgeting, the attempt to measure the social benefits of a proposed project in monetary terms and compare them with its costs. of California's family planning program, Working Paper, San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden : University of California, San Francisco, Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, 2005. * Family PACT was created through the FY 1996-1997 Budget Trailer Bill, which added provisions to the Welfare and Institutions Code to provide state funding to expand the clinical family planning program. ([dagger]) In 2003, only 29% of California women aged 15-44 whose income was below 200% of the federal poverty level had private insurance. (Source: UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX Center for Health Policy Research, California Health Interview Survey, <http://www.chis.ucla.edu>, accessed Oct. 3, 2005.) * Medicaid family planning waivers allow states to offer Medicaid coverage for family planning services to residents who would not otherwise be eligible. Although Family PACT is PACT I - An early system on the IBM 701. Version PACT IA was for the IBM 704. [Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)]. funded in part through this waiver, it is not part of Medi-Cal and has its own eligibility criteria and benefits. ([dagger]) Specifically, we modeled conception as a Markov process (probability, simulation) Markov process - A process in which the sequence of events can be described by a Markov chain. , a type of analysis often used to determine the probability of an event (e.g., pregnancy) that is random but influenced by the probability of certain other variables (e.g., the risk of contraceptive failure during the next month) as well as by its own previous value (e.g., the probability of having already conceived). We estimated a woman's probability of pregnancy in a given month to be the monthly method failure rate times the probability that she did not become pregnant in the previous four months and did not carry to term a pregnancy that began 5-11 months before. Therefore, the probability of pregnancy in a given month is [MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION A group of characters or symbols representing a quantity or an operation. See arithmetic expression. NOT REPRODUCIBLE re·pro·duce v. re·pro·duced, re·pro·duc·ing, re·pro·duc·es v.tr. 1. To produce a counterpart, image, or copy of. 2. Biology To generate (offspring) by sexual or asexual means. IN ASCII ASCII or American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a set of codes used to represent letters, numbers, a few symbols, and control characters. Originally designed for teletype operations, it has found wide application in computers. ] where [p.sub.n] is the probability of pregnancy in month n, b is the probability a pregnancy is brought to term, f is the monthly failure rate, a is the gestation GESTATION, med. jur. The time during which a female, who has conceived, carries the embryo or foetus in her uterus. By the common consent of mankind, the term of gestation is considered to be ten lunar months, or forty weeks, equal to nine calendar months and a week. at time of induced or spontaneous abortion and i is nine months plus duration of postpartum postpartum /post·par·tum/ (post-pahr´tum) occurring after childbirth, with reference to the mother. post·par·tum adj. Of or occurring in the period shortly after childbirth. infecundity In`fe`cun´di`ty n. 1. Lack of fecundity or fruitfulness; barrenness; sterility; unproductiveness. . * The alternative to modeling pregnancy on a monthly basis is to use the year as the time interval and to assume that the contraceptive failure rate (the proportion of users who experience a pregnancy in a year) is equivalent to the pregnancy rate (the number of pregnancies per population). However, a problem arises with this methodology when there is a high probability of pregnancy and high abortion rate. For example, 100 women with a 0.85 chance of pregnancy over the year would experience 85 pregnancies in a year if each pregnancy removed the women from the risk of another pregnancy for the full year, but more than 120 pregnancies if all women returned to fecundity after four months. As contraceptive efficacy and the probability of a live birth increase, the contraceptive failure rate and pregnancy rate converge con·verge v. con·verged, con·verg·ing, con·verg·es v.intr. 1. a. To tend toward or approach an intersecting point: lines that converge. b. . For our model of pregnancies in the absence of the program and the sensitivity analysis model of no contraceptive use in the absence of the program, using annual rates would significantly underestimate the number of pregnancies experienced by women. Author contact: greened@obgyn.ucs.edu Diana Greene Foster is demographer de·mog·ra·phy n. The study of the characteristics of human populations, such as size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics. [French démographie : Greek ; M. Antonia Biggs is project director; Gorette Amaral is research associate; Claire Brindis is director and professor of health policy and adolescent health; Sandy Navarro is social scientist; Mary Bradsberry is senior statistician; and at the time this study was conducted, the late Felicia Stewart Dr. Felicia H. Stewart, MD (1943 - 2006) was a women's health physician and expert in the field of reproductive health. Career From 1999 - 2006 Dr. Stewart served as Director and Professor at the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy at the University of was codirector and adjunct adjunct (aj´ungkt), n a drug or other substance that serves a supplemental purpose in therapy. adjunct professor of obstetrics obstetrics (ŏbstĕ`trĭks), branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of women during pregnancy, labor, childbirth (see birth), and the time after childbirth. , gynecology gynecology (gīn'əkŏl`əjē), branch of medicine specializing in the disorders of the female reproductive system. Modern gynecology deals with menstrual disorders, menopause, infectious disease and maldevelopment of the and reproductive sciences--all at the Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco.
TABLE 1. Percentage of contraceptive users who experience
method failure in a year, by method, and percentage distribution
of unintended pregnancies, by outcome--according to women's age
Measure 15-19 20-44
Method
Tubal ligation 0.4 0.4
IUD 0.8 0.8
Implant 0.3 0.3
Injectable 0.4 0.3
Oral contraceptives 5.9 4.8
Diaphragm/cervical cap 23.7 19.0
Condoms 16.6 14.0
Spermicide 30.7 25.0
Outcome
Birth 49.0 45.0
Induced abortion 36.0 39.0
Spontaneous abortion 14.0 15.0
Ectopic pregnancy 1.0 1.0
Total 100.0 100.0
Sources: Method failure rates--reference 9. Pregnancy
outcomes--references 10 and 11.
TABLE 2. Percentage distribution of female Family PACT clients,
by primary contraceptive method used prior to first
visit--according to year and women's age, California
Method 2000
All * 15-19 20-44
(N=868) (N=212) (N=656)
None 27 25 27
Natural family planning 3 2 3
Condoms 38 52 34
Oral contraceptives 18 12 19
Injectable 9 7 10
Implant 1 1 0
IUD 5 1 6
Total 100 100 100
1997-1998
All * 15-19 20-44
(N=1,429) (N=217) (N=1,212)
None 30 33 29
Natural family planning 14 5 4
Condoms 26 31 25
Oral contraceptives 23 19 24
Injectable 12 11 12
Implant 2 0 2
IUD 4 1 5
Total 100 100 100
* Percentages are age-standardized to 80% women aged 20-44 and 20%
women aged 15-19. Note: Percentages may not total 100 because of
rounding.
TABLE 3. Number of women receiving contraceptives through
Family PACT, and mean number of woman-months of protection,
by contraceptive method, according to women's age, 2002
Method Women *
All 15-19 20-44
Total 926,218 202,289 723,929
Tuballigation 4,022 5 4,017
IUD 16,850 937 15,913
Implant 84 15 69
Injectable 187,199 40,406 146,793
Oral contraceptives 478,363 108,278 370,085
Patch 7,097 1,450 5,647
Ring 328 75 253
Emergency contraception
([double dagger]) 27,043 11,511 15,532
Diaphragm 1,147 96 1,051
Condoms 406,692 91,242 315,450
Foam/gel 3,707 471 3,236
IUD/implantremoval
([section]) 1,806 73 1,678
Woman-months of
protection ([dagger])
All 15-19 20-44
Total 6.91 6.37 7.06
Tuballigation 18.25 16.00 18.25
IUD 16.89 16.71 16.91
Implant 18.02 17.80 18.07
Injectable 6.09 5.60 6.22
Oral contraceptives 7.60 7.17 7.73
Patch 2.08 2.02 2.10
Ring 2.21 2.05 2.25
Emergency contraception
([double dagger]) 1.21 1.22 1.20
Diaphragm 2.23 2.17 2.23
Condoms 2.96 2.76 3.01
Foam/gel 2.23 2.07 2.25
IUD/implantremoval
([section]) 1.97 1.85 2.04
* Some women received more than one method.
([dagger]) Duration of protection is capped at two years for tubal
ligation, IUD and implant. ([double dagger]) Excludes emergency
contraception that was dispensed togetherwith another method.
([section]) Months of contraceptive coverage is calculated from
first visit until removal.
TABLE 4. Estimated number of pregnancies among Family PACT clients,
in the presence and absence of Family PACT services, and outcomes
of pregnancies averted through Family PACT services, by year
and women's age
Measure 2002
All 15-19 20-44
(N=926,218) (N=202,289) (N=723,929)
Pregnancies with Family PACT 24,800 6,100 18,600
Pregnancies without Family PACT 229,700 49,800 180,000
Pregnancies averted 205,000 43,600 161,300
Births averted 94,000 21,400 72,600
Induced abortions averted 78,600 15,700 62,900
Spontaneous abortions averted 30,300 6,100 24,200
Ectopic pregnancies averted 2,000 400 1,600
1997-1998
All 15-19 20-44
(N=491,569) (N=97,904) (N=393,665)
Pregnancies with Family PACT 10,800 2,200 8,700
Pregnancies without Family PACT 119,000 26,200 92,800
Pregnancies averted 108,100 24,000 84,100
Births averted 49,600 11,800 37,900
Induced abortions averted 41,500 8,700 32,800
Spontaneous abortions averted 16,000 3,400 12,600
Ectopic pregnancies averted 1,100 200 800
Note: Numbers may not add up to totals because of rounding.
TABLES. Estimated number of pregnancies averted through use
of Family PACT services under selected scenarios, by women's
age, and percentage change in pregnan-cies averted relative
to base case
Scenario All 15-19 20-44 %
change
Base case 205,000 43,600 161,300 na
Higher contraceptive failure rates 233,400 37,900 195,500 14
Perfect-use failure rates among
all women 199,400 41,700 157,700 -3
Perfect-use failure rates only among
program clients 226,400 48,900 177,500 10
Women use all methods/supplies
dispensed 247,500 53,100 194,500 21
Clients use no method in absence
of Family PACT 581,900 129,200 452,700 184
Half of clients abstain in absence
of Family PACT 90,100 18,700 71,400 -56
All clients who began with a method
use condoms in absence of
Family PACT 217,400 45,600 171,800 6
Notes: Numbers may not add up to totals because of rounding.
na = not applicable.
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