Switching due to the pandemic from usual pre-COVID-19 contraception method among participants who were using ‘more effective’ contraceptives and were not pregnant, not trying to get pregnant nor unable to get pregnant
| Parameter | Used more effective methods in the year before first lockdown and stopped or switched method (% (95% CI)) | Denominators (weighted, unweighted) | |||
| Did not switch or stop usual method | Switched to similarly or more effective method | Switched from more effective usual method to less effective method | Stopped using contraceptives | ||
| Total | 82.8 (79.3 to 85.8) | 10.2 (7.9 to 13.1) | 3.2 (2.0 to 5.1) | 3.8 (2.5 to 5.9) | 521, 631 |
| Age (years) | |||||
| 18–24 | 74.6 (63.5 to 83.3) | 16.0 (9.3 to 26.2) | 7.7 (3.4 to 16.5) | 1.6 (0.3 to 9.1) | 76, 102 |
| 25–29 | 80.9 (73.6 to 86.5) | 9.2 (5.4 to 15.1) | 3.9 (1.7 to 8.6) | 6.1 (3.2 to 11.4) | 146, 189 |
| 30–34 | 81.5 (73.0 to 87.7) | 12.5 (7.5 to 20.2) | 2.9 (1.0 to 8.4) | 3.1 (1.1 to 8.6) | 111, 133 |
| 35–44 | 88.3 (82.8 to 92.2) | 7.3 (4.3 to 12.1) | 1.0 (0.2 to 4.1) | 3.4 (1.5 to 7.2) | 187, 207 |
| P value | p=0.018 | ||||
| Ethnicity | |||||
| White | 84.5 (80.9 to 87.5) | 9.0 (6.7 to 11.9) | 2.8 (1.7 to 4.8) | 3.7 (2.3 to 5.8) | 481, 590 |
| Black or Black African or Black Caribbean or Black British | 60.7 (28.9 to 85.4) | 29.6 (9.2 to 63.7) | 0 | 9.7 (1.2 to 49.3) | 11, 9 |
| Asian or Asian British | 68.3 (40.1 to 87.4) | 15.1 (3.8 to 44.9) | 9.5 (1.6 to 40.2) | 7.1 (0.9 to 38.9) | 15, 16 |
| Mixed or multiple or other ethnic groups | 56.6 (23.8 to 84.5) | 27.7 (7.3 to 65.2) | 15.6 (2.6 to 56.6) | 0 | 10, 14 |
| P value | p=0.025 | ||||
| Self-described sexual identity | |||||
| Heterosexual or Straight | 83.3 (79.8 to 86.4) | 9.8 (7.5 to 12.7) | 3.1 (1.9 to 5.1) | 3.8 (2.4 to 5.9) | 493, 550 |
| Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Other | 66.5 (43.0 to 84.0) | 21.0 (7.9 to 45.0) | 6.1 (1.0 to 30.6) | 6.3 (1.0 to 30.7) | 21, 75 |
| P value | p=0.017 | ||||
| Social grade | |||||
| A/B - Higher/intermediate managerial, administrative and professional | 77.9 (69.5 to 84.5) | 13.3 (8.3 to 20.7) | 5.5 (2.6 to 11.3) | 3.3 (1.2 to 8.6) | 121, 158 |
| C1/C2 - Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional, skilled manual workers | 84.3 (79.8 to 88.0) | 8.9 (6.2 to 12.7) | 2.1 (1.0 to 4.5) | 4.7 (2.8 to 7.7) | 306, 348 |
| D/E - Semi-skilled and unskilled manual, casual, lowest grade and unemployed | 84.0 (75.0 to 90.2) | 10.5 (5.7 to 18.7) | 3.8 (1.4 to 10.4) | 1.6 (0.3 to 7.7) | 94, 125 |
| P value | p=0.19 | ||||
| Education level | |||||
| Degree | 84.0 (79.2 to 87.9) | 9.0 (6.1 to 13.1) | 3.2 (1.6 to 6.1) | 3.8 (2.1 to 6.9) | 272, 331 |
| Below degree | 81.7 (76.3 to 86.1) | 11.1 (7.7 to 15.8) | 3.4 (1.7 to 6.6) | 3.8 (2.0 to 7.1) | 238, 288 |
| No qualifications | 73.6 (36.5 to 93.1) | 21.9 (5.0 to 60.1) | 0 | 4.5 (0.2 to 57.5) | 10, 12 |
| P value | p=0.79 | ||||
| Living together - Relationship but not living together - Single | |||||
| Married/steady and living together | 84.6 (80.4 to 88.0) | 9.4 (6.8 to 13.0) | 1.8 (0.8 to 3.9) | 4.2 (2.5 to 6.8) | 352, 421 |
| Married/steady not living together | 78.3 (67.2 to 86.4) | 13.1 (7.0 to 23.1) | 6.1 (2.4 to 14.7) | 2.5 (0.6 to 10.3) | 73, 92 |
| Casual, new, >1, at end or other* | 84.0 (66.8 to 93.2) | 7.7 (2.2 to 23.7) | 8.3 (2.5 to 24.4) | 0 | 34, 43 |
| Single | 77.1 (64.8 to 86.0) | 12.6 (6.3 to 23.6) | 4.8 (1.5 to 14.2) | 5.4 (1.8 to 14.9) | 62, 75 |
| P value | p=0.16 | ||||
| Been furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme | |||||
| No | 82.0 (78.0 to 85.4) | 11.4 (8.7 to 14.8) | 3.5 (2.1 to 5.8) | 3.1 (1.8 to 5.3) | 420, 511 |
| Yes | 85.7 (77.1 to 91.4) | 5.6 (2.4 to 12.5) | 1.7 (0.3 to 7.6) | 7.0 (3.3 to 14.3) | 97, 117 |
| P value | p=0.042 | ||||
| Became unemployed | |||||
| No | 83.5 (79.8 to 86.5) | 9.7 (7.4 to 12.7) | 3.2 (2.0 to 5.3) | 3.6 (2.2 to 5.7) | 476, 573 |
| Yes | 73.8 (57.9 to 85.3) | 16.9 (8.0 to 32.1) | 2.3 (0.3 to 16.3) | 6.9 (2.1 to 20.6) | 41, 55 |
| P value | p=0.21 | ||||
| Days drinking in the last week (n) | |||||
| 0 | 80.9 (75.0 to 85.7) | 10.0 (6.6 to 14.9) | 3.7 (1.8 to 7.3) | 5.4 (3.0 to 9.4) | 212, 250 |
| 1–2 | 83.4 (77.8 to 87.8) | 11.3 (7.7 to 16.3) | 2.4 (1.0 to 5.6) | 2.8 (1.3 to 6.2) | 216, 264 |
| 3–4 | 84.5 (72.9 to 91.7) | 9.6 (4.3 to 20.2) | 4.3 (1.3 to 13.7) | 1.5 (0.2 to 11.1) | 61, 74 |
| 5–7 | 86.3 (68.0 to 95.0) | 5.8 (1.2 to 23.4) | 3.2 (0.4 to 21.8) | 4.6 (0.8 to 22.4) | 30, 41 |
| P value | p=0.78 | ||||
| Drinking habits compared with pre-COVID-19 outbreak | |||||
| Less these days | 81.2 (74.1 to 86.6) | 11.7 (7.4 to 17.9) | 4.7 (2.3 to 9.5) | 2.4 (0.9 to 6.6) | 153, 195 |
| About the same | 83.7 (78.9 to 87.7) | 9.0 (6.1 to 13.1) | 2.2 (1.0 to 4.9) | 5.0 (2.9 to 8.3) | 272, 326 |
| More these days | 82.4 (73.2 to 88.9) | 11.4 (6.3 to 19.7) | 3.5 (1.2 to 10.0) | 2.7 (0.8 to 8.9) | 94, 109 |
| P value | p=0.47 | ||||
| Current smoker | |||||
| No | 83.5 (79.6 to 86.8) | 9.9 (7.4 to 13.2) | 2.8 (1.6 to 4.9) | 3.7 (2.3 to 6.1) | 410, 500 |
| Yes | 79.7 (71.0 to 86.3) | 11.4 (6.6 to 18.9) | 4.8 (2.0 to 10.8) | 4.2 (1.7 to 10.1) | 110, 130 |
| P value | p=0.65 | ||||
| Symptoms of depression (PHQ-2 score) | |||||
| No symptoms of depression (0–2) | 86.0 (82.0 to 89.3) | 7.6 (5.2 to 10.9) | 2.4 (1.2 to 4.6) | 4.0 (2.4 to 6.7) | 348, 421 |
| Symptoms of depression (3–6) | 76.5 (69.4 to 82.3) | 14.9 (10.2 to 21.2) | 5.1 (2.6 to 9.7) | 3.6 (1.6 to 7.8) | 166, 203 |
| P value | p=0.012 | ||||
| Symptoms of anxiety (GAD-2 score) | |||||
| No symptoms of anxiety (0–2) | 83.0 (78.5 to 86.7) | 10.2 (7.4 to 14.0) | 2.8 (1.5 to 5.3) | 3.9 (2.3 to 6.7) | 326, 387 |
| Symptoms of anxiety (3–6) | 82.5 (76.4 to 87.3) | 10.3 (6.7 to 15.5) | 3.5 (1.7 to 7.4) | 3.7 (1.7 to 7.5) | 191, 241 |
| P value | p=0.96 | ||||
Some 631 participants reported only or usually using a ‘more effective’ method of contraception in the year before the first lockdown. Users of emergency contraception only were classed as ‘stopped using contraceptives’. 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.