Objective: To evaluate the risk of unwanted pregnancies, their outcome and the rate of resuming contraception after discontinuation of oral contraception (OC) prior to elective surgery.
Design: A six months prospective follow-up study.
Setting: Orthopedic unit, operating on a total of 897 women during a period of 24 months.
Subjects: Seventy-eight healthy women in whom OC was stopped prior to elective orthopedic surgery.
Outcome: Pregnancy rate, pregnancy outcome and reinstitution rate of OC.
Results: Complete outcome data are available for 73 (93.5%) of 78 women who were asked to participate in the study. Five pregnancies were reported, giving a cumulated six month pregnancy rate of 6.8%. Three pregnancies were completed to term, one was ectopic and one terminated by induced abortion. Within six months after the operation the cumulative user rate of oral contraceptives was 74.2%. None of the women were readmitted to hospitals for severe illness during the study period.
Conclusions: The women resumed oral contraceptives relatively soon after their first post-operative menstrual cycle. This may explain why the pregnancy rate during the first six postoperative months appears low.