Health risks of the birth control pill are obviously a concern for women: According to a health insurance company, the contraceptive is prescribed much less frequently in Bavaria. The condom is more popular among young people.
Munich (dpa / lby) – According to a health insurance company evaluation, women in Bavaria use the pill as a contraceptive method less often than they did almost ten years ago. If doctors still prescribed the pill to 56 percent of young women in Bavaria in 2013, it was only 40 percent last year, according to an analysis published by AOK Bayern on Monday. The evaluation relates only to those insured by health insurance in Bavaria. Around 4.6 million of the 13 million inhabitants of Bavaria belong to it.
The number of prescriptions has steadily decreased over the period. Only in 2020 was there a slight increase. At that time, the age limit for the prescription of health insurance costs was raised from 20 to 22 years.
The AOK suspects awareness of the health risks of the pill as the reason for the decline. Above all, the so-called oral combination preparations with several active ingredients would increase the risk of developing a thrombosis or embolism. Their share of pill prescriptions has fallen from a good 67 percent to almost 49 percent. Today, so-called mono-preparations, also known as mini-pills, are prescribed more frequently. They are particularly suitable for girls and women with risk factors such as obesity and smoking.
The change in contraceptive behavior is apparently in favor of the condom. According to a study by the Federal Center for Health Education from 2018, the use of condoms among people between the ages of 18 and 29 had increased by around seven percent compared to 2011, while the use of the pill had decreased by 16 percent. According to this, 58 percent of the couples surveyed used a condom and 56 percent used the pill.
