QuickStats: Percentage of Women Who Missed Taking

Oral Contraceptive Pills* Among Women Aged 15–44

Years Who Used Oral Contraceptive Pills and Had

Sexual Intercourse,

Overall and by Age and Number of

Pills Missed — National Survey Of Family Growth,

United States, 2013–2015†

Weekly / September 15, 2017 / 66(36);965

The figure above is a bar chart showing that among women aged 15-44 years who used oral contraceptive pills in the last 4 weeks and had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months, 69% of women reported missing no pills, 15% missed one pill, and 16% missed two or more pills. Across the two age groups (15–24 years and 25–44 years), similar percentages of women aged 15–24 years reported missing no pills (67%) compared with women aged 25–44 years (70%). Similar percentages of women aged 15–24 years reported missing one pill (12%) compared with women aged 25–44 years (17%). A higher percentage of women aged 15–24 years (21%) reported missing two or more pills compared with women aged 25–44 years (13%).

* Percentages are based on women who used oral contraceptive pills in the past 4 weeks and had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months, who were asked the question “Still thinking about the past 4 weeks, how many pills that you were supposed to take did you miss? Would you say you never missed a pill, missed only one pill, or missed two or more pills?”

† Estimates are based on interviews of the U.S. household population aged 15–44 years.

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Among women aged 15–44 years who used oral contraceptive pills in the last 4 weeks and had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months, 69% of women reported missing no pills, 15% missed one pill, and 16% missed two or more pills. Across the two age groups (15–24 years and 25–44 years), similar percentages of women aged 15–24 years reported missing no pills (67%) compared with women aged 25–44 years (70%). Similar percentages of women aged 15–24 years reported missing one pill (12%) compared with women aged 25–44 years (17%). A higher percentage of women aged 15–24 years (21%) reported missing two or more pills compared with women aged 25–44 years (13%).

Source: National Survey of Family Growth, 2013–2015. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/index.htm.

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Reported by: Kimberly Daniels, PhD, kdaniels1@cdc.gov, 301-458-4511; Joyce Abma, PhD.

Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Women Who Missed Taking Oral Contraceptive Pills Among Women Aged 15–44 Years Who Used Oral Contraceptive Pills and Had Sexual Intercourse, Overall and by Age and Number of Pills Missed — National Survey Of Family Growth, United States, 2013–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;66:965. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6636a10 .