Reproductive Health Counseling and Education Crucial for Women With Rheumatic Disease | ACR Convergence
Despite an interest in services, a majority of women do not have these critical conversations with their health care providers.
There is a “significant deficiency” in reproductive health education and counseling for women living with autoimmune rheumatic diseases, according to research presented at ACR Convergence 2024.1
Despite an interest in services, a majority of women do not have these critical conversations with their health care providers. | Image credit: Prostock-studio - stock.adobe.com
Autoimmune rheumatic diseases impact women during childbearing years, which can lead to pregnancy complications. To effectively care for this patient population, family planning services, as well as sexual and reproductive health education, is crucial.
Through a cross-sectional analytical study of adult women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases, researchers sought to describe the knowledge and behaviors of around sexual and reproductive health education in this patient population.
The study cohort included 725 women (mean age, 36.6±9.4 years), 39% of whom were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and 35% of whom were diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus. Participants primarily lived in urban areas (84%) and 29.8% had a college or university degree.
Over 60% of participants reported high confidence in discussing family planning and contraceptive counseling with their health care provider; 11% reported having no confidence at all. Despite the high level of confidence, 36% of participants reported not having received any contraceptive counseling, while 24% did not receive information about pregnancy risks and 37% did not receive information about the use of medications to manage their rheumatic disease during pregnancy.
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The majority (94.4%) of patients had an active sex life; 42.29% were not using any method of contraceptives and 23.35% were not using effective contraceptives. Among those who did use contraceptives, most—34.2%—made that decision without consulting a health care professional.
In terms of children, more than half of patients reported having the number of children that they wanted; 10% reported having more children than they wanted, most frequently due to either not using contraceptives (37%) or failure of their chosen contraceptive method (20%). A total of 23% reported having fewer children than they wanted, with 60% of respondents in that group attributing the cause to their rheumatic disease.
“This study highlights a significant deficiency in reproductive health education and counseling for women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases,” the researchers concluded. “It is crucial to develop specific and accessible educational programs for this population and to promote better communication between patients and health care professionals, to enable patients to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, reduce the risks during pregnancy, and facilitate appropriate family planning.”
READ MORE: Women’s Health Resource Center
