Early Medical Abortion With Mifepristone (RU 486) And Misoprostol Is Highly Acceptable To Amer...( a final visit12 days later each pati...),Health

a final visit 12 days later, each patient's pregnancy status was assessed, and patients answered several questions about acceptability. As part of an investigator's questionnaire, providers assessed the potential for the safe home use of mifepristone-misoprostol for each study participant. The clinical trial took place at 17 clinics in 15 states; the sites included Planned Parenthood affiliates, university hospitals, and free-standing clinics. The sample included African-American, Asian, Caucasian, and Hispanic women. Focus groups with providers also were conducted at all participating clinics. "For a new technology to be a viable option in a health care system," Winikoff et al. say, "both patients and providers need to want to use it and to ask for it. For this reason, understanding how women and medical personnel perceive and value a new technology is important. In the case of medical abortion, however, patient acceptability is also key to the success of the method. Indeed, surgical intervention rates are influenced by patients' attitudes, expectations, and tolerance of adverse effects, and by physicians', nurses', and counselors' understanding and aptitude for using the method. For medical methods of abortion to work successfully, women must feel committed to completing the regimen, and both women and providers must wait while the therapy takes its course."

Success rates in the trial varied by gestational age. Among women with pregnancies of 49 days' duration or less since their last menstrual period, 92 percent had successful medical abortions. These results are similar to the French experience. Efficacy declined with increasing gestational age. The most prevalent side effects were similar to those experienced with spontaneous abortion: cramping and bleeding. Many women also had gastrointestinal side effects, particularly nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. About a third of the women reported headaches at some point during the two-week observation p
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Contact: Christina Horzepa
chorzepa@popcouncil.org
212-339-0520
Population Council
15-Jul-1998

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