Similar rates of complete abortion seen for no-test screening and mailing of mifepristone when compared with in-person care<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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MONDAY, July 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Access to medication abortion using history-based (no-test) eligibility assessment, including through telehealth, and mailing of mifepristone lead to similar rates of complete abortion as in-person care with ultrasonography, according to a study published online June 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>.<\/p>\n Lauren J. Ralph, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues examined whether medication abortion with no-test eligibility assessment and mailing of medications is as effective as in-person care with ultrasonography in a prospective, observational study with a noninferiority analysis. Four abortion-providing organizations in Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Virginia, and Washington were included. The study groups reflected the model of care selected by patients and clinicians and included no-test (telehealth) eligibility assessment and medication mailing (no test + mail), no-test eligibility assessment and medication pickup (no-test + pickup), and in-person with ultrasonography (228, 119, and 238 patients, respectively).<\/p>\n Outcome data were available for 91.8 percent of participants. The researchers found that overall effectiveness was 94.4 and 93.3 percent in the no-test + mail group and the in-person group with ultrasonography, respectively, in adjusted models, meeting the prespecified 5 percent noninferiority margin. Serious adverse events included overnight hospitalization, blood transfusion, and emergency surgery and were reported by 1.1 percent of the participants.<\/p>\n “Expansion of telehealth and no-test or history-based models offers a safe and effective, as well as urgently needed, way to overcome at least some of the logistical and geographic barriers to accessing abortion,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Two authors disclosed ties to Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n