The American health authority has just authorized the Natural Cycles application to advertise as a method of contraception, while a Swedish hospital carried out 37 abortions linked to this method last January.
This is a first: a smartphone application recognized as a means of contraception. While it has been a while since health applications, such as those for diabetes or depression, have been used by many patients, it is the first time that a country has recognized one as a method of contraception. This recognition is all the more surprising given that the application is responsible for 37 abortions in Sweden.
Low risk of error?
It’s been a while since women have seen applications appear on their smartphones that allow them to manage their cycles in a natural way, that is to say to predict their ovulation days in order to control their sexual intercourse. These applications are generally based on personal data (age, weight, cycles) associated with body temperature, which is higher in the event of ovulation. This is the case of Natural Cycles, application founded by two researchers of Swedish origin, Elina Berglund and Raoul Scherwitzl.
This paid subscription application is said to be used by 800,000 women. To authorize this application to communicate as a contraceptive method, the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) was based on a clinical study carried out on 15,570 women. The very low failure rate of 1.8%, much lower than that observed when using a condom, was a favorable argument for the American organization.
An ideal method of contraception then? It is not so simple. The Natural Cycles application has also been the victim of controversy, especially since the Södersjukhuset hospital in Stockholm notified that 37 abortions out of 668 between September and December 2017 had been suffered by women using Natural Cycles as a means of contraception. AMP, which in Sweden is the equivalent of our National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), is carrying out an investigation to find out the extent of the application’s failures.
A return to natural contraception?
However, the development of these practices and applications should be seen as an evolution among the means of contraception. The third-generation pill crisis in 2013 effectively changed the way we protect ourselves: one in 5 women have modified their contraception, in particular by using the so-called natural one. The latter consists in proceeding with the withdrawal or, more certainly, with the MOC: “methods of observation of the cycle”.
According to the National Federation of Colleges of Medical Gynecology (FNCGM), these methods have very high failure rates ranging from 17% to 20% and are unreliable. While some caregivers defend the MOC, arguing that all natural methods are not created equal.
Enough to fuel the debate for a long time to come. Remember, however, that in no case, such a method protects sexually transmitted diseases such as hepatitis C or the HIV virus for which only condoms are an effective bulwark!
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