Percentage of Original Study Group Discontinuing Various Fertility Awareness-Based Methods at 12 Months or 13 Cycles by Study6,10,11,21
| Reason | SDM (%) | TDM (%) | CrM (%) | BOM (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Completed study | 45.6 | 52.7 | — | — |
| Eliminated by study protocol | 28.0 | 15.7 | — | — |
| Told risk of pregnancy would be high | 0.2 | — | — | — |
| Did not like the method | 0.2 | 1.8 | 0.7 | — |
| Did not trust the method | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 | — |
| Partner did not like the method | 2.1 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 3.0 * |
| Planning pregnancy | 2.1 | 2.2 | — | 5.0 * |
| To use other FABM | — | — | 0.7 | — |
| To use artificial method | — | — | 4.5 | 20.1 * |
| Difficulty avoiding genital contact | — | — | 0.7 | — |
| Other voluntary reason | 4.0 | 10.4 | 4.6 | 1.0 * |
| Lost to follow up | 7.1 | 4.4 | — | 16.3 * |
| Pregnancy | 9.0 | 10.4 | — † | 16.0 * |
| Medically induced infertility | — | — | 0.3 | — |
| Unknown | — | 0.2 | — | — |
Data not reliably available for Rhythm, Basal Body Temperature, and Symptothermal methods.
↵* Billings Ovulation Method–India trial: data reported at 21 ordinal months. Overall discontinuation rate at 12 months was 24%. Individual reasons were not reported for this time frame.
↵† Creighton Model did not remove participants from study for pregnancy because studies were designed to evaluate both pregnancy-achieving and pregnancy-avoiding behaviors.
SDM, Standard Days Method; TDM, TwoDays Method; CrM, Creighton Model; BOM: Billings Ovulation Method, —, data not available.