Contraception continuation rates and reasons for discontinuation in Zahedan, Islamic Republic of Iran.

We evaluated contraception continuation rates and discontinuation reasons in Zahedan among 1741 women from 1998-2000. By Kaplan-Meier technique continuation rates were 92% for low dose combined hormonal oral contraceptives (OC), 86% for a levonorgestrel-releasing implant, 82% for intrauterine devices (IUD) and 53% for medroxyprogesterone acetate at the first year. After 3 years, continuation was 78% for levonorgestrel implant, 70% for OC, 60% for IUD and 44% for medroxyprogesterone acetate. The commonest reason for discontinuing OC and medroxyprogesterone acetate was changing method; for IUD and levonorgestrel-releasing implant, the commonest reason was side-effects. By Cox regression model, continuation rate and contraceptive type were significantly related to health centre.