Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health
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Unintended pregnancy and contraceptive use in women with chronic disease: providing an evidence-base for Australia

Approved: 2017

Collaborators:

  • Dr Melissa Harris
  • Prof Julie Byles
  • Prof Deborah Loxton
  • Prof Deborah Bateson
  • Prof Jayne Lucke
  • Ms Peta Forder

Synopsis

Unintended pregnancy remains high in developed countries despite access to high quality sexual and reproductive services. Some evidence exists that women with chronic diseases experience unintended pregnancy at significantly higher rates than women without chronic disease. For these women, unintended pregnancies are associated with serious adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes, including congenital abnormalities, pre-term labour, spontaneous abortion, and foetal death. Optimised preconception care and reproductive life planning is critical to the prevention of unintended pregnancies and reduction in pregnancy-related complications in women with chronic diseases. Little information exists in the Australian context. This projects aims to fill this knowledge gap.