The Relationship of Contraceptive Methods with the Sickle-cell Anemia Crises among the Reproductive aged Women in Khuzestan- Iran

Introduction: Many sexually active women with sickle-cell anemia can be pregnant and tend to use contraceptive methods. Access to an effective family planning is important for women with sickle-cell anemia, because their pregnancy can be more problematic.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the different methods of family planning among women with sickle-cell anemia and their relationship with the crisis's onset of these diseases.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which was conducted on 50 reproductive age women with sickle-cell anemia referred to Shafa hospital in Ahvaz during 2011-2012. Demographic data and patients' telephone numbers were extracted by referring to the medical records archive of patients. Data pertaining to the blood tests and electrophoresis of patients were extracted from the records. A questionnaire pertaining to the demographic data, history of midwifery and disease and sickle-cell anemia crises was completed via a telephone interview with the patient. Data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics, chi-square and Spearman's Rho test for assessing the relationship between sickle-cell anemia crises and contraceptive methods.

Results: The most common contraceptive methods used by patients were; withdrawal (34%), barrier method (30%), tubal ligation (16%), oral contraceptive pills (12%), intra uterine device (2%) and Depot-Medroxy Progesterone Acetate (DMPA) (2%) respectively. Four percent of women did not use any contraceptive method. There was not any significant relationship between sickle-cell anemia crises and contraceptive methods. However, when we classified contraceptive methods to two groups of hormonal and non- hormonal methods, a significant relationship was found between crises of sickle-cell anemia and hormonal and non- hormonal methods.

Conclusion: Results of this study showed that there is no relationship between contraceptive methods and sickle-cell anemia crises, but showed a significant relationship between crises and hormonal and non- hormonal methods. These findings require confirmation in other studies with larger sample size.

Keywords: Sickle-cell anemia; Crises of Sickle-cell anemia; Contraceptive methods