Early medical abortion services provided in Australian primary care.
Med J Aust
; 215(8): 366-370, 2021 Oct 18.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34553385
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To examine primary care provision of early medical abortion services in Australia.DESIGN:
Cross-sectional study; analysis of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) dispensing data. SETTING,PARTICIPANTS:
Women of child-bearing age (15-54 years), Australia, 2015-2019. MAIN OUTCOMEMEASURES:
Age-standardised rates of MS-2 Step prescriptions dispensed by year for 2015-2019, and age-standardised rates by state, remoteness area, and level 3 statistical areas (SA3s) for 2019. Numbers and proportions of SA3s in which MS-2 Step was not prescribed by a GP or dispensed by a community pharmacy during 2019 (unweighted and weighted by number of women of reproductive age), by state and remoteness area.RESULTS:
During 2015-2019, 91 643 PBS prescriptions for MS-2 Step were dispensed; the national age-standardised rate increased from 1.63 in 2015 to 3.79 prescriptions per 1000 women aged 15-54 years in 2019. In 2019, rates were higher in outer regional Australia (6.53 prescriptions per 1000 women aged 15-54 years) and remote Australia (6.02 per 1000) than in major cities (3.30 per 1000). However, about 30% of women in Australia lived in SA3s in which MS-2 Step had not been prescribed by a GP during 2019, including about 50% of those in remote Australia.CONCLUSIONS:
The rate of early medical abortion is greater among women in remote, outer regional, and inner regional Australia than in major cities, but a considerable proportion of women live in areas in which MS-2 Step was not locally prescribed or dispensed during 2019. Supporting GPs in the delivery of early medical abortion services locally should be a focus of health policy.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Aborto Induzido
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
País como assunto:
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article