Abstract

Dr. J. Sarala, Dr. Prema Elizabeth Jeyanthi David*, R. Mothilal

ABSTRACT

Background: Depo provera, the long acting inject able formulation DMPA, is a crystalline suspension of this hormone. DMPA is extremely effective, the pregnancy rate 0-1/100 women years. This study was done to estimate the side effects of DMPA among mothers who accepted DMPA 150 mg with mode of injection through 6 weeks after child birth, after abortion / MTP and as a contraceptive method (after excluding pregnancy) as a cafeteria approach and to assess the association between the menstrual problems and doses of DMPA. Methods: It is a analytical cross sectional retrospective study on women who were accepted DMPA after 6 weeks after child birth, after abortion / MTP and as a contraceptive method (after excluding pregnancy) as a cafeteria approach. The study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital on 136 patients between July 2008 and July 2010. Results: About 136 patients were studied and all the women were followed-up to know the current status of DMPA was made to them. About 67.6 % of the women were continued DMPA. The side effects namely menstrual problems, headache, hot flushes, weight gain, breast changes and nervousness were noticed among the women who had DMPS contraceptive injections. Of the cases, menstrual problems were the major reason for drop out. Conclusions: In present study, disruption of menstrual was the major side effects observed. On an average amenorrhea was seen in 10.4% of the patients, irregular cycles were seen in 14.7% of the patients after 3 doses. Average weight gain of 6 kg was observed in 6.5% of the patients after 3 doses. The dropout rate was increasing with every dosage. Majority of the patients had come back for follow-up.