A comparative analysis of documented contraceptive use among women aged 18-30 living with and without HIV in Alabama.

Objectives: To compare contraception use in 18-30-year-old women living with and without HIV. We also explored factors associated with contraceptive use.

Study Design: We reviewed outpatient medical records for women living with HIV aged 18-30 years seen in one of two university-affiliated HIV-subspecialty clinics in Birmingham, Alabama, between July 2015 and June 2016. We selected an age-matched sample of women living without HIV seen in one of two university-affiliated non-HIV primary care clinics as the comparator group and focused our analysis on women with a documented discussion of contraception in clinic. For women with more than one clinic visit during the 1-year study period, the most recent visit was used for analysis. Multinominal and binary logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with contraception use, and models were adjusted for HIV status.

Results: This study included 197 women (58 HIV-positive, 139 HIV-negative). Short-acting contraception methods were the most common methods used by women with (41.4%) and without HIV (47.5%, p=.43). Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) use was 14% among women with HIV and 32% among women without HIV (p=.12). Contraception use predictors included HIV status, mental health comorbidities, obesity and number of pregnancies.

Conclusion: Documented contraceptive method use among 18-30-year -old women seen in clinics in urban Alabama varied by HIV status. Women with HIV were less likely to use LARC methods compared to women without HIV.

Implications: Future studies should focus on identifying factors that influence contraceptive choice and which methods are offered to young women in the South. Providers should document contraception discussions at each visit and remove any barriers to LARC provision.