The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of oral
contraceptive (OC) use, user characteristics and prescribing patterns by
accessing health care databases of three European countries.
A retrospective study was performed from 2009 to 2010 in
three general practice (GP) databases from the Netherlands, UK and Italy and in
one database of linked pharmacy and hospitalisation data in the Netherlands.
The presence of selected chronic conditions and diagnoses of diseases
associated with OC use were assessed, as were switches, discontinuations and
types of OC used during the study period.
Among 2.16 million women aged 15 to 49 years, 16.0% were
using an OC on 1 January 2010. The prevalence ranged from 19.7% in a Dutch
database to 2.6% in the Italian database. During 2009 and 2010, mainly
second-generation progestogens were prescribed in the Netherlands (79.4% and
78.3% of users), both second- (57.9%) and third-generation progestogens (43.6%)
were prescribed in the UK, and mainly third-generation progestogens in Italy
(61.8%). Most switches were to third- or fourth-generation pills. The
prevalence of chronic diseases tended to be higher among OC users, and the
proportions of women with a history of disease associated with OC use tended to
be lower than among non-users.
Second-generation OCs were most frequently prescribed in the
Netherlands. In the UK, and even more so in Italy, many women used third- or
fourth-generation OCs. Preparation switches were mainly to third- or
fourth-generation OCs. Among OC users, a somewhat higher prevalence of chronic
diseases was observed; however, information bias cannot be ruled out.
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By:
- 1 PHARMO Institute for Drug Outcomes Research , Utrecht , the Netherlands.
- 2 Department of Medical Informatics , Erasmus University Medical Center (EMC) , Rotterdam , the Netherlands.
- 3 Agenzia Regionale di Sanità della Toscana , Florence , Italy.
- 4 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine , University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
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