IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v34y1992i3p281-289.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The abuse of high dose estrogen/progestin combination drugs in delay of menstruation: The assumptions and practices of doctors, midwives and pharmacists in a peruvian city

Author

Listed:
  • Bonnema, Jorien
  • Dalebout, Joanneke A.

Abstract

The results are presented of a field study of the use of high dose Estrogen/Progestin combination drugs in Cusco, Peru, 1987. In Western countries the sale of these products is restricted. In the 1970s the use of high dose Estrogen/Progestin combination drugs as a hormonal pregnancy test was assumed to cause birth defects. Still these drugs have high sales data in Third World countries, where they are marketed for the treatment of menstrual disorders and for pregnancy diagnosis. A widespread misuse as abortifacient is assumed, although the abortive effect has never been proved. In this study 112 gynaecological consultations by doctors and 53 by midwives were observed. Seventeen health professionals and 26 salesmen in pharmacies were interviewed. It turned out that doctors and midwives prescribe high dose Estrogen/Progestin combination drugs to women whose periods are delayed. Of the consults 33% concerned this complaint. Women prefer "hindsight" birth control methods. Abortion is illegal. Under the cover of menstruation regulation or pregnancy diagnosis health professionals meet the wishes of women who search for an abortifacient. The products can easily be obtained without prescription. It is suggested that high dose Estrogen/Progestin combination drugs should be withdrawn from the market.

Suggested Citation

  • Bonnema, Jorien & Dalebout, Joanneke A., 1992. "The abuse of high dose estrogen/progestin combination drugs in delay of menstruation: The assumptions and practices of doctors, midwives and pharmacists in a peruvian city," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 281-289, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:34:y:1992:i:3:p:281-289
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(92)90270-Z
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:34:y:1992:i:3:p:281-289. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.