These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Past use of an intrauterine device and risk of tubal pregnancy.
    Author: Rossing MA, Daling JR, Weiss NS, Voigt LF, Stergachis AS, Wang SP, Grayston JT.
    Journal: Epidemiology; 1993 May; 4(3):245-51. PubMed ID: 8512988.
    Abstract:
    We assessed risk of tubal pregnancy associated with past use of an intrauterine device (IUD). Cases were 256 members of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound who experienced a tubal pregnancy between 1981 and 1986. Controls were 666 female members of the Cooperative at risk of ectopic pregnancy who were similar to cases with respect to age and county of residence, but otherwise selected at random. The presence of antibody to Chlamydia trachomatis was assessed in a sample of 134 cases and 182 controls. Women who had previously used an IUD for 3 or more years were more than twice as likely as women who had never used an IUD to have a tubal pregnancy (adjusted relative risk = 2.5, 95% confidence interval = 1.5-4.3). Among these long-term users of an IUD, risk of tubal pregnancy remained elevated for many years after the device was removed. Also, among long-term users, women known to have more than one IUD insertion were no more likely than women with one known insertion to develop a tubal pregnancy. When we restricted our analyses to women who used only copper-containing devices, the results were nearly identical. We conclude that extended past use of an IUD, including use of a copper device, increases the risk of tubal pregnancy. In King County, Washington, health workers interviewed 256 members of the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound who had had an ectopic pregnancy between October 1981 and September 1986 and 666 randomly selected, age and country matched controls who were at risk of ectopic pregnancy. Researchers wanted to examine the risk of ectopic pregnancy associated with past use of an IUD, particularly a copper releasing IUD They tested for Chlamydia trachomatis antibody in 134 cases and 182 controls. Cases were more likely to have a positive titer for C. trachomatis than controls (42.5% vs. 18.1%). The risk of ectopic pregnancy rose with increasing duration of past IUD use (e.g., odds ratio for past IUD use of 36 or more months was 2.5). The risk was the same when the researchers only considered past use of copper releasing IUDs. Further, the risk remained elevated for at least 7 years after stopping IUD use, including copper IUDs. Women with no evidence of chlamydial infection experienced an elevated risk of ectopic pregnancy with increasing duration of past IUD use (adjusted relative risk at 36 or more months was 3.4 for all IUD users and 5.5 for copper IUD users), suggesting that events other than chlamydial salpingitis damage tubes in IUD users. Among women who used IUDs for at least 36 months in the past, women who continuously used the same IUD were just likely to have an ectopic pregnancy as were those with more than one IUD insertion. These results indicate that longterm, past use of an IUD, including a copper IUD, elevates the risk of ectopic pregnancy.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]