Abstract

Introduction Family planning involves couples taking responsibility for their own fertility and making decisions about when and how many children to have. Aim: The aim of this study was to establish the value of use of IUD as a contraceptive method. Material and methods: This study enrolled 1874 patients in whom an IUD was inserted as a method of contraception during the period 2003–2008. All of the patients were from Kosova and the method was retrospective. Data were collected from the medical charts of both public and private health institutions licensed by the Ministry of Health. Results: The data analysis indicated that 69.42% subjects lived in the city, while 30.57% lived in villages. Of the subjects, 82.12% carried the IUD for more than 3 years without any problems. In 6.56% subjects, the IUD was removed within 6 months after insertion. Of these 21.95% had the IUD removed because they felt emotionally uncomfortable with having a foreign body inside their uterus. Of the 1874 women 3.04% became pregnant while using the IUD. Conclusions: The use of an IUD as a method of contraception in Kosova is increasing steadily.

Key words: contraception, IUD, Kosova