Use of IUDs skyrockets, study says

New research on contraceptive trends suggests that women tend to buy Mirena and other intrauterine devices (IUDs) in exponentially increasing amounts.

The international study published in the Fertility & Sterility journal shows that in 2009, almost half - 41 percent - of birth control-using women surveyed in China have used IUDs. The same was true for about 25 percent of women in France and Norway.

By contrast, less than 10 percent of American women who participated in the survey had opted for IUDs. However, the 8.5 percent rate from 2009 still marks a more than 200 percent increase from 2007, when only 4 percent of American women reported using IUDs.

Speaking to Reuters Health, lead scientist Lawrence B. Finer of New York's Guttmacher Institute said that this rise in popularity of IUDs might be due to organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advocating their use, and that advertising has been doing a superior job of educating potential customers about the benefits of IUDs. He also speculated that women choosing to have children later in life may find more effective and long-lasting IUDs preferable to less-reliable condoms or birth control pills.