High levels of women's satisfaction and compliance with transdermal contraception: results from a European multinational, 6-month study

Figures & data

Table I. Baseline characteristics.

	N = 780 mean ± SD, unless stated
Age, years	28.4 ± 6.2
Height, cm	165.0 ± 6.1
Weight, kg	58.9 ± 9.2
BMI < 30 kg/m^2, n (%)	763 (97.8)
BMI ≥ 30 kg/m^2, n (%)	17 (2.2)
Pregnancy history, n (%)
0	358 (45.9)
1	168 (21.5)
2	151 (19.4)
>2	103 (13.2)
Delivery history, n (%)
0	430 (55.1)
1	184 (23.6)
2	139 (17.8)
>2	27 (3.5)
Contraception used in the previous 3 months, n (%)
None	243 (31.2)
Oral	354 (45.4)
Barrier	133 (17.1)
Other*	50 (6.4)
Mean duration of previous contraceptive use, days	861.6 ± 1208

BMI, body mass index.

*Includes intrauterine device, implants, injection, withdrawal, fertility awareness, vaginal ring, spermicide, postcoital contraception (emergency contraception), and abstention.

Figure 1.  Overall satisfaction with contraception used at baseline.

Figure 2.  Overall satisfaction with the patch after 3 (Visit 3) and 6 cycles (Visit 4) in the whole study group.

Figure 3.  Satisfaction questions: mean scores at each visit for the subset of women currently using a contraceptive method at baseline.

Table II. Significant improvements on individual questions.

	Baseline (%)	Visit 3 (%)	Visit 4 (%)
	(Prev. method) n = 491	(Patch) n = 759	(Patch) n = 659
(Very) Convenient	45.5	83.1	89.2
Worry about pregnancy: all/most of the time	10.6	4.6	3.4
(Very) Easily incorporated into lifestyle	72.7	89.0	93.8
(Very) Satisfied with frequency of dosing	44.3	91.3	95.7
Feel (very) secure	79.4	85.9	92.3
Overall (very) satisfied	54.4	81.3	88.2

The percentages at baseline are referred to women currently using a contraception method; percentage at Visits 3 and 4 are referred to the whole study group.

n = number of subjects at the specified visit.

Two-sided Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Figure 4.  Personal preference between the patch and the previous method. Previous method means either the method currently used at baseline or that had been used in the 3 months prior to study entry.