American researchers suggest that there may be significant pregnancy rates after tubal sterilization for contraceptive purposes.
- A new study shows that 3 to 5 percent of women in the United States who have had tubal ligation report an unintended pregnancy.
- Ten years after the operation, “the estimated percentage who had a pregnancy was 8.4%.”
- This failure rate led the authors to suggest that patients who truly want to avoid a future pregnancy should instead use a contraceptive implant or IUD.
Performed under general anesthesia, tubal ligation is a surgical procedure that involves cutting the fallopian tubes to prevent sperm from traveling up the vagina and cervix to fertilize the egg. Thus, this tubal sterilization prevents pregnancy. According to scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, it is the most commonly used method of contraception in the United States. However, in a new study, the team reports that tubal ligation fails often enough.
3 to 5% of women who have had tubal ligation become pregnant
To reach this conclusion, she examined failure rates after tubal sterilization for contraception in the United States. To do this, she estimated pregnancy rates after the procedure using data from four independent rounds of the National Survey of Family Growth from 2002 to 2015, which included more than 31,000 women aged 15 to 44. A total of 4,184 patients reported having their tubes tied. In the first year after tubal surgery, the authors estimated that 2.9% to 5.2% of women who had the procedure between 2013 and 2015 became pregnant. “At 120 months after tubal sterilization, the estimated percentage who had achieved pregnancy was 8.4%,” can be read in the results published in the journal NEJM EvidenceThe risk of pregnancy was highest among women who were younger at the time of their tubal sterilization.
Contraception: implant and IUD more effective than tubal ligation
“This study shows that tubal surgery cannot be considered the best way to prevent pregnancy,” said Eleanor Bimla Schwarzlead author of the research. The researchers say other forms of contraception are generally more effective. “People who use an arm contraceptive implant or an IUD are less likely to get pregnant than those who have their tubes tied.”
