The Effect of Fecundity of Pill Acceptance During Postpartum Amenorrhea

The purpose of this article is to clarify the design of a study on the results of pill acceptance during postpartum amenorrhea and the subsequent effects on the birth interval. Results of this initial study suggest that the pill acceptors experienced a shorted birth interval than nonacceptors. Alleged problems in the study design include the exclusion of women using other means of birth control than the pill as well as an exclusion of other pill acceptors and users. Other alleged problems in the choice of a study group population include self-selection and ascertainment bias. On methodological issues it is asserted that the study design was a case control study rather than the more complex nonconcurrent prospective matched design. Of the allegations relating to choice of population studied and to claims of bias the reply is made that the topic of the study was purposefully limited to exclude women using other methods of birth control. As to self-selection and ascertainment bias these are problems inherent in any research of this type. The author concludes with the disclaimer that such a study was not meant to be exhaustive but was simply a presentation of a possible problem for further research

Amenorrhea · Biology · Environmental health · Fecundity · Fertility · Gynecology · Obstetrics · Pill · Population · Pregnancy · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Medicine · Pharmacology · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies