Contraception used in the year since the start of the first UK lockdown by participants aged 18–44 years who were sexually active and were not pregnant, not trying to get pregnant nor unable to get pregnant
| Parameter | Usual contraception used during COVID-19 (% (95% CI)) | Denominators (weighted, unweighted) | ||
| No method used | Less effective method | More effective method | ||
| Total | 12.8 (10.9 to 15.0) | 33.1 (30.3 to 36.1) | 54.1 (51.0 to 57.1) | 999,1169 |
| Age (years) | ||||
| 18–24 | 12.2 (8.2 to 17.8) | 42.0 (35.1 to 49.3) | 45.7 (38.7 to 53.0) | 185, 230 |
| 25–29 | 14.9 (11.0 to 19.8) | 28.7 (23.4 to 34.6) | 56.5 (50.3 to 62.4) | 255, 315 |
| 30–34 | 12.4 (8.6 to 17.6) | 33.1 (27.1 to 39.8) | 54.5 (47.7 to 61.1) | 212, 252 |
| 35–44 | 11.8 (8.8 to 15.7) | 31.7 (27.0 to 36.8) | 56.5 (51.2 to 61.6) | 346, 372 |
| P value | p=0.10 | |||
| Ethnicity | ||||
| White | 11.9 (9.9 to 14.3) | 30.0 (27.0 to 33.1) | 58.1 (54.7 to 61.3) | 863, 1040 |
| Black or Black African or Black Caribbean or Black British | 30.2 (17.0 to 47.6) | 42.2 (26.8 to 59.3) | 27.6 (15.1 to 45.0) | 35, 27 |
| Asian or Asian British | 19.0 (10.5 to 32.0) | 55.1 (41.5 to 68.0) | 25.9 (15.8 to 39.4) | 54, 49 |
| Mixed or multiple or other ethnic groups | 10.7 (3.9 to 26.2) | 61.8 (44.7 to 76.4) | 27.5 (15.2 to 44.7) | 36, 47 |
| P value | p<0.0001 | |||
| Self-described sexual identity | ||||
| Heterosexual or Straight | 13.0 (11.0 to 15.2) | 33.3 (30.4 to 36.3) | 53.8 (50.6 to 56.9) | 952, 1035 |
| Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Other | 10.2 (3.5 to 26.6) | 29.1 (16.0 to 47.1) | 60.6 (42.9 to 76.0) | 34, 123 |
| P value | p=0.40 | |||
| Social grade | ||||
| A/B - Higher/intermediate managerial, administrative and professional | 11.7 (8.1 to 16.5) | 38.1 (32.1 to 44.6) | 50.2 (43.8 to 56.6) | 233, 292 |
| C1/C2 - Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional, skilled manual workers | 10.4 (8.1 to 13.3) | 28.7 (25.0 to 32.8) | 60.9 (56.6 to 65.0) | 526, 582 |
| D/E - Semi-skilled and unskilled manual, casual, lowest grade and unemployed | 19.2 (14.7 to 24.7) | 37.9 (32.0 to 44.3) | 42.9 (36.7 to 49.2) | 240, 295 |
| P value | p<0.0001 | |||
| Education level | ||||
| Degree | 9.0 (6.8 to 11.8) | 36.2 (32.2 to 40.5) | 54.8 (50.4 to 59.0) | 519, 609 |
| Below degree | 15.3 (12.3 to 19.0) | 30.1 (26.0 to 34.6) | 54.5 (49.9 to 59.1) | 445, 520 |
| No qualifications | 37.4 (22.7 to 54.9) | 25.3 (13.3 to 42.7) | 37.4 (22.6 to 54.9) | 35, 40 |
| P value | p<0.0001 | |||
| Living together – Relationship but not living together – Single | ||||
| Married/steady and living together | 13.5 (11.2 to 16.3) | 32.2 (28.8 to 35.8) | 54.3 (50.5 to 58.0) | 678, 781 |
| Married/steady not living together | 10.7 (6.4 to 17.3) | 33.6 (25.9 to 42.2) | 55.8 (47.1 to 64.1) | 131, 164 |
| Casual, new, >1, at end or other* | 10.0 (5.0 to 19.0) | 42.3 (31.8 to 53.5) | 47.7 (36.8 to 58.7) | 80, 92 |
| Single | 13.0 (7.8 to 20.8) | 31.3 (23.2 to 40.7) | 55.7 (46.2 to 64.8) | 109, 131 |
| P value | p=0.64 | |||
| Been furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme | ||||
| No | 13.0 (10.9 to 15.5) | 33.3 (30.2 to 36.6) | 53.7 (50.2 to 57.1) | 822, 962 |
| Yes | 11.8 (7.8 to 17.7) | 33.0 (26.3 to 40.5) | 55.2 (47.6 to 62.5) | 169, 200 |
| P value | p=0.90 | |||
| Became unemployed | ||||
| No | 12.8 (10.8 to 15.2) | 32.4 (29.4 to 35.6) | 54.8 (51.5 to 58.0) | 891, 1040 |
| Yes | 12.8 (7.5 to 20.9) | 40.8 (31.6 to 50.8) | 46.4 (36.8 to 56.3) | 101, 122 |
| P value | p=0.20 | |||
| Days drinking in the last week (n) | ||||
| 0 | 15.1 (11.9 to 18.9) | 31.6 (27.3 to 36.3) | 53.3 (48.4 to 58.1) | 409, 474 |
| 1–2 | 10.6 (7.9 to 14.0) | 32.4 (28.0 to 37.2) | 57.0 (52.1 to 61.8) | 396, 468 |
| 3–4 | 10.1 (6.0 to 16.7) | 41.0 (32.8 to 49.7) | 48.8 (40.3 to 57.5) | 130, 149 |
| 5–7 | 16.2 (8.8 to 27.8) | 32.3 (21.7 to 45.1) | 51.5 (39.0 to 63.8) | 62, 76 |
| P value | p=0.18 | |||
| Drinking habits compared with pre-COVID-19 outbreak | ||||
| Less these days | 13.1 (9.7 to 17.5) | 32.9 (27.8 to 38.5) | 54.0 (48.3 to 59.6) | 298, 360 |
| About the same | 13.0 (10.4 to 16.2) | 32.2 (28.3 to 36.4) | 54.8 (50.4 to 59.0) | 510, 589 |
| More these days | 9.6 (6.0 to 14.9) | 34.4 (27.7 to 41.8) | 56.0 (48.6 to 63.2) | 176, 205 |
| P value | p=0.79 | |||
| Current smoker | ||||
| No | 11.2 (9.1 to 13.6) | 33.3 (30.0 to 36.7) | 55.6 (52.0 to 59.0) | 774, 906 |
| Yes | 18.6 (14.0 to 24.3) | 32.4 (26.5 to 38.8) | 49.0 (42.4 to 55.6) | 222, 261 |
| P value | p=0.011 | |||
| Symptoms of depression (PHQ-2 score) | ||||
| No symptoms of depression (0–2) | 10.2 (8.1 to 12.8) | 33.3 (29.7 to 37.0) | 56.5 (52.6 to 60.3) | 642, 745 |
| Symptoms of depression (3–6) | 17.9 (14.2 to 22.4) | 33.3 (28.5 to 38.4) | 48.8 (43.5 to 54.1) | 346, 413 |
| P value | p=0.0016 | |||
| Symptoms of anxiety (GAD-2 score) | ||||
| No symptoms of anxiety (0–2) | 10.4 (8.2 to 13.1) | 33.2 (29.6 to 37.1) | 56.4 (52.4 to 60.3) | 607, 697 |
| Symptoms of anxiety (3–6) | 16.7 (13.3 to 20.8) | 32.5 (28.0 to 37.3) | 50.8 (45.8 to 55.8) | 384, 465 |
| P value | p=0.013 | |||
Some 246 respondents (17.4% of total) answered ‘Not applicable’ as they were already pregnant, planning to get pregnant or unable to get pregnant. These responses are excluded from the table. ‘More effective method’ includes intrauterine device, intrauterine system, implant, contraceptive pill, injection and transdermal patch. ‘Less effective method’ includes condoms, spermicides, rhythm method, withdrawal and ‘other’ methods. Participants who used no contraceptives or only emergency contraceptives are classed as ‘no method used’. P values were calculated from F values generated from Pearson χ2 statistics using the second-order correction of Rao and Scott.45
*In a ‘casual’ relationship, in a ‘new’ relationship, in more than one relationship, recently ended a relationship or ‘other’ relationship status.
CI, confidence interval; GAD-2, Generalised Anxiety Disorder-2; PHQ-2, Patient Health Questionnaire-2.