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Contraception - Management
UK Medical Eligibility Criteria for use of copper intrauterine devices

The UK Medical Eligibility Criteria are a set of evidence-based recommendations designed to help women select the most appropriate method of contraception for specific clinical conditions without imposing necessary restrictions [FSRH, 2009b]. Each clinical condition has a recommendation for contraceptive use, categorized according to the balance of benefits and harms weighted by their probabilities for the typical user with the condition. The categories are defined in Table 1. Table 2 describes the UK Medical Eligibility Criteria for use of a copper-bearing intrauterine device (IUD).

Table 1. UK Medical Eligibility Criteria (UKMEC).
Category
Definition
UKMEC 1
A condition for which there is no restriction for the use of the contraceptive method.
UKMEC 2
A condition where the advantages of using the method generally outweigh the theoretical or proven risks.
UKMEC 3
A condition where the theoretical or proven risks usually outweigh the advantages of using the method.
Provision of a method to a woman with a condition given a UKMEC Category 3 requires expert clinical judgement and/or referral to a specialist contraceptive provider since use of the method is not usually recommended unless other methods are not available or not acceptable.
UKMEC 4
A condition which represents an unacceptable health risk if the contraceptive method is used.
Source: [FSRH, 2009b]
Table 2. UK Medical Eligibility Criteria (UKMEC) for use of a copper intrauterine device (IUD).
Clinical feature
UKMEC 1
No restrictions
UKMEC 2
Advantages generally outweigh risks
UKMEC 3
Requires expert clinical judgement
UKMEC 4
Contraindicated
Pregnancy
Pregnancy
Age
>= 20 years
Menarche to < 20 years
Parity
Nulliparous
Parous
Postpartum, breastfeeding or non-breastfeeding, including post-Caesarean Section
>= 4 weeks
48 hours to < 4 weeks
Puerperal sepsis
Post-abortion
First-trimester abortion
Second-trimester abortion
Immediately after septic abortion
Ectopic pregnancy
History of ectopic pregnancy
Smoking
Past or current smoker
Obesity
BMI >= 30 kg/m2
Blood pressure
Adequately controlled hypertension
Consistently elevated blood pressure systolic >140 mmHg or diastolic >90 mmHg
Vascular disease
History of high blood pressure during pregnancy
Surgery
History of pelvic surgery
Major surgery with or without prolonged immobilization
Minor surgery without immobilization
Other risk factors for venous thromboembolism
History of VTE
Current VTE (on anticoagulants)
Family history of VTE in a first-degree relative
Immobility (unrelated to surgery), e.g. wheelchair use, debilitating illness
Known thrombogenic mutations, e.g. Factor V Leiden, Prothrombin mutation, Protein S, Protein C, Antithrombin deficiencies
Varicose veins
Superficial thrombophlebitis
Raynaud's disease
Primary
Secondary, with and without lupus anticoagulant
Systemic lupus erythematosus
SLE alone
Positive (or unknown) antiphospholipid antibodies
For continuation
Immunosuppressive treatment
For initiation
Immunosuppressive treatment
For continuation
Severe thrombocytopenia
For initiation
Severe thrombocytopenia
Headaches
Non-migrainous headaches (mild or severe)
Migraine headaches with or without aura, at any age
History (>= 5 years ago) of migraine with aura, at any age
Epilepsy
Epilepsy
Psychological conditions
Depressive disorders
Breast disease
Undiagnosed mass
Benign breast disease or a family history of breast cancer
Carriers of known gene mutations associated with breast cancer (e.g. BRCA1)
Current breast cancer
History of breast cancer and no evidence of recurrence for 5 years
Vaginal bleeding
Irregular without heavy bleeding
For initiation and continuation
Heavy or prolonged bleeding (regular and irregular patterns)
For continuation
Unexplained vaginal bleeding (before evaluation) suspicious for serious underlying condition
For initiation
Unexplained vaginal bleeding (before evaluation) suspicious for serious underlying condition
Other gynaecological conditions
Benign ovarian tumours including cysts
Gestational trophoblastic disease when hCG is decreasing or normal
Cervical ectropion
CIN
Uterine fibroids, without distortion of the uterine cavity
For initiation and continuation
Severe dysmenorrhoea
Endometriosis
Other abnormalities (including cervical stenosis or cervical lacerations) not distorting the uterine cavity or interfering with IUD insertion
For continuation
Cervical cancer, awaiting treatment
Endometrial cancer
Ovarian cancer
Uterine fibroids, with distortion of the uterine cavity
Distorted uterine cavity (any congenital or acquired uterine abnormality distorting the uterine cavity in a manner that is incompatible with IUD insertion)
For initiation and continuation
Gestational trophoblastic disease when hCG is persistently elevated or malignant disease
For initiation
Cervical cancer, awaiting treatment
Endometrial cancer
Ovarian cancer
Cardiovascular conditions
Current and history of ischaemic heart disease
Stroke including TIA
Multiple risk factors for arterial cardiovascular disease
Valvular and congenital heart disease: uncomplicated
Valvular and congenital heart disease: complicated (e.g. by pulmonary hypertension, atrial fibrillation, or history of subacute bacterial endocarditis)
Gastrointestinal conditions
History of cholestasis (related to pregnancy or combined oral contraceptive)
Gallbladder disease: asymptomatic, symptomatic treated by cholecystectomy, medically treated, or current
Cirrhosis: mild (compensated) or severe (decompensated)
Liver tumours: benign (focal nodular hyperplasia; hepatocellular adenoma) and malignant (hepatoma)
Inflammatory bowel disease
Infections
For initiation and continuation
Past pelvic inflammatory disease (with no risk factors for STIs)
Schistosomiasis
Non-pelvic tuberculosis
Malaria
Viral hepatitis: acute or flare, carrier or chronic disease
For continuation
Current pelvic inflammatory disease
Chlamydia (symptomatic and asymptomatic)
Current purulent cervicitis or gonorrhoea
For initiation and continuation
Other STIs (excluding HIV and hepatitis)
Vaginitis
Increased risk of STIs
High risk of HIV
HIV (not using antiretroviral therapy)
HIV (using antiretroviral therapy)
AIDS

HIV (using antiretroviral therapy)

For continuation

Known pelvic tuberculosis
For initiation
Current pelvic inflammatory disease
Chlamydia (symptomatic and asymptomatic)
Current purulent cervicitis or gonorrhoea
Known pelvic tuberculosis
Diabetes
History of gestational diabetes
NIDDM and IDDM, non-vascular disease
With nephropathy, retinopathy, or neuropathy; or other vascular disease
Thyroid
Simple goitre, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid
Haematological conditions
Anaemias: thalassaemia, iron deficiency, or sickle cell disease
Dyslipidaemia
Known hyperlipidaemias
Antiretroviral therapy drug interactions (and consistent use of condoms is recommended)
 
For initiation and continuation
Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
Ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors
For initiation
Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
Ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors
Anticonvulsant therapy drug interactions
Certain anticonvulsants (e.g. phenytoin, carbamazepine, barbiturates, primidone, topiramate, oxcarbazepine)
Lamotrigine
Antimicrobial therapy drug interactions
Broad spectrum antibiotics
Antifungals
Antiparasitics
Rifampicin or rifabutin therapy
BMI = body mass index; CIN = cervical intraepithelial neoplasia; hCG = human chorionic gonadotrophin; IDDM = insulin-dependent diabetes; IUD = intrauterine device; NIDDM = non-insulin-dependent diabetes; STI = sexually transmitted infection; SLE = systemic lupus erythematosus; TIA = transient ischaemic attack; VTE = venous thromboembolism.
† The consistent use of condoms is recommended for women with HIV or AIDs on antiretroviral therapy, to prevent HIV transmission.
‡ There is no known interaction between antiretroviral therapy and IUD use. However, AIDS is classified as Category 3 for insertion and Category 2 for continuation unless the woman is clinically well on antiretroviral therapy, in which case both insertion and continuation are classified as Category 2.
Adapted from: [FSRH, 2009b]

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