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Racial & Ethnic Differences in LARC Use
Contraception; ePub 2018 Jan 17; Kramer, et al
Observed differences in long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) use by race-ethnicity in the US do not represent social and economic disparities, a recent study found. Data were derived from the 2011-2013 and 2013-2015 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG) and study sample included 9,321 women aged 15 to 44. Researchers tested interaction terms between race-ethnicity and covariates (ie, education, parity, poverty level) to examine whether their effects on LARC use vary by race-ethnicity. They found:
- Data did not show that low income and education predict LARC use more strongly among black and Hispanic women vs white women.
- Among white and Hispanic women, those who reported ever experiencing an unintended pregnancy had a higher predicted probability of LARC use vs those who did not.
- Conversely, among black women, the experience of unintended pregnancy was not associated with a higher predicted probability of LARC use.
Kramer RD, Higgins JA, Godecker AL, Ehrenthal DB. Racial and ethnic differences in patterns of long-acting reversible contraceptive use in the United States, 2011-2015. [Published online ahead of print January 17, 2018]. Contraception. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2018.01.006.