Spike in morning after pill sales in the U.S. after New Year celebrations

Gross sales of emergency contraception are estimated to rise by round 10% within the US within the week after the New Yr vacation, suggesting that this era is related to elevated dangers of unprotected intercourse in contrast with different holidays, finds a research revealed within the Christmas difficulty of The BMJ.

Different holidays resembling Valentine’s Day and Independence Day had been additionally related to a rise in gross sales, however to a lesser extent.

Though this annual spike in gross sales may appear humorous, the researchers level out that as many US states have elevated restrictions on abortion “it’s indicative of unmet contraceptive want that requires additional consideration.”

New Yr’s Eve celebrations are related to elevated sexual exercise, which is much less more likely to be protected because of elevated alcohol consumption. New Yr’s Eve can be linked to larger charges of sexual assault and restricted entry to different types of contraception because of restricted opening hours of clinics, medical workplaces and outlets.

To evaluate gross sales of emergency contraception following the New Yr holiday, the researchers analyzed retail scan information for levonorgestrel, a drugs which has been obtainable over-the-counter with no age restrictions since 2013.

Regardless of its widespread nickname because the “morning after capsule,” levonorgestrel is efficient when taken inside 96—and presumably 120—hours after unprotected sex, although is extra more likely to work the earlier it’s taken. This makes well timed entry of important significance.

The crew targeted on gross sales within the week following New Yr’s Eve and New Yr’s Day from 2016 to 2022 in US shops together with grocery stores, drug shops, mass merchandisers, membership shops, greenback shops, and navy shops.

To account for potential adjustments within the inhabitants liable to being pregnant, weekly gross sales had been divided by the scale of the feminine inhabitants aged 15 to 44 years previous.

General, gross sales of levonorgestrel elevated by 0.63 items per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 44 years previous within the week after New Yr’s Eve. Based mostly on population estimates in 2022, this equated to virtually 41,000 further tablets bought that yr.

The researchers additionally thought-about different holidays which can be related to larger unprotected sexual activity, together with Valentine’s Day, Independence Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Valentine’s Day was related to a rise in gross sales about half of the scale of the New Yr’s enhance: 0.31 items per 1,000 girls. US Independence Day was related to a 0.20 enhance in gross sales and St Patrick’s Day was related to 0.14 enhance.

Holidays resembling Mom’s Day, Father’s Day and Easter, weren’t related to a rise in gross sales.

The researchers level to some limitations. For instance, emergency contraception gross sales are usually not synonymous with use, and the info don’t embrace emergency contraception acquired via medical clinics, unbiased pharmacies and on-line gross sales. Variations in how and which holidays are celebrated and the way reproductive well being care is accessed may additionally restrict the generalizability of the findings to different settings, they add.

Nonetheless, the crew says their outcomes counsel that the character of sure celebrations may make them essential public well being targets and so they counsel that “focusing on behavioral dangers, prevention methods to mitigate sexual violence, and enhancing entry to contraception round holidays might restrict the dangers related to unprotected vaginal intercourse.”

“Greater than ever, emergency contraception is a critically essential possibility for folks within the US, significantly these residing in areas with bans or extreme restrictions on abortion,” they write. “Future work will discover how different dynamics at play within the US context, together with state abortion restrictions, have an effect on emergency contraception buying conduct and indicate potential public well being interventions to offer contraceptive care to those that want it probably the most.”