Opinion and experience of Brazilian women regarding menstrual bleeding and use of combined oral contraceptives.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the opinion and experience of Brazilian women regarding menstruation and the use of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) to control monthly bleeding and induce amenorrhea.

METHODS

Women attending regional public healthcare clinics for non-gynecologic conditions, and female members of staff from university schools unrelated to the field of medicine completed a questionnaire.

RESULTS

Of the 1111 women interviewed, 64.3% reported disliking menstruation. The desired frequency of bleeding was never (65.3%), less than monthly (18.2%), and every month or more often (16.5%). More than 60% of the women reported that they would use COCs to control menstrual bleeding, 82.0% would use COCs to reduce the amount of bleeding experienced, and 86.1% would use COCs to induce amenorrhea. When compared with women who disliked menstruation, those who reported that they liked to experience monthly bleeding had fewer years of schooling (OR1.98; 95% CI, 1.30-2.97), low socioeconomic status (OR 1.66; 95% CI, 1.12-2.46), fewer days of menstruation each month (OR 1.62; 95% CI, 1.11-2.36), and 1 or more child (OR 1.13; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26).

CONCLUSION

Many of the women surveyed disliked monthly menstruation and were interested in the use of COCs to control menstrual bleeding and induce amenorrhea.