Pill and IUD discontinuation in the United States, 1970-1975: the influence of the media.

Analysis of the 1975 National Fertility Study data on pill and IUD discontinuation shows an upward trend in discontinuation rates for both methods between 1970 and 1975, with particularly sharp increases in pill discontinuation starting in 1972. Almost 40 percent of pill discontinuation was attributable to problems of use; three-fifths of these problems were physical. About one-quarter of pill discontinuation was for reasons other than problems of use. The single most common of these was that the woman wanted to become pregnant. Almost 40 percent of IUD discontinuation was due to method-related problems; only 13 percent was due to the women's desire to become pregnant, a finding which suggests that women do not use this method for childspacing. Examination of the relationship between pill and IUD discontinuation and unfavorable news stories about these two methods reveals that after specific news events, discontinuation rates for both methods tend to increase. Rates climb for 5-6 months following specific unfavorable news stories, with peaks in the rate of change in discontinuation reached 3-5 months after a pill-related story and 2-4 months after an IUD-related story. General media coverage of the adverse effects of pill use in particular (where general coverage is defined as the cumulative number of pill articles appearing between 1970 and 1975) accounts for 34 percent of the variance in pill discontinuation rates. This correlation is strongly suggestive of a causal relationship between general mass media coverage of the adverse effects of the pill and discontinuation rates for this method.