Objective:

The use of hormonal contraceptives has grown progressively in many countries of the world. The aim was to determine the patterns of use of hormonal contraceptives, frequency of comorbidities and concomitant medications in women over 15 years of age affiliated with the Colombian Health System.

Methods:

Cross-sectional study, which included data on women over 15 years of age with prescriptions and dispensations of a hormonal contraceptive for at least three continuous months (April-June-2016). A database with sociodemographic, pharmacological information (type of contraceptives, doses, comedications and comorbidities) was created. Descriptive and multivariate analyzes were conducted seeking to identify factors associated with risk comedications.

Results:

34309 women who received hormonal contraceptives were identified, with a mean age of 27.2 ± 7.0 years (range: 13-60.8 years). The most commonly used contraceptives were injectable of monthly application (63.0 %), injectable of quarterly application (19.1 %), oral administration (12.1 %), subdermal implants (7.4 %) and finally the hormonal intrauterine devices with 0.4 %. 5.7 % of the patients (n = 1957) were receiving some medication, especially with antihypertensives (2.9 %) and anti-migraines (1.9 %). Be over 45 years old (OR:2.3; 95 %CI: 1.7-3.0), use hormonal intrauterine device (OR: 2.4; 95 % CI:1.4-4.1) and quarterly injectable contraceptive (OR:1.7; 95 %CI:1.3-2.3) were associated with a higher probability of receiving comedications.

Conclusions:

Colombian women who access hormonal contraceptives through the Health System are mainly using injectable presentations, with very low frequency of oral ones, and in general they have few comorbidities that require pharmacological treatment, although some have cardiovascular conditions that may involve potential risk of thrombotic events.

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