Regret among 547 Danish sterilized women.

In Denmark a study was conducted on women who had been sterilized. The purpose of the study was to discover the percentage of women who regretted the sterilization and the reasons concerning their regret. 594 who had been sterilized at the Freiksborg County Hospital were contacted and sent a 3-page questionnaire which included quetions on social background reasons for the sterilization and complications due to the sterilization including sexual problems. 547 women (92.1%) answered the questionnaire. The result of the study are as follows. 28 women (5.1%) were found to be regretters while 519 of the women (94.9%) were satisfied. The risk of regretting sterilization was higher among women experiencing marital disharmony (12.5% regretted) had a child less than 1 year old (14.7% regretted) had the sterilization performed with another surgical procedure (16.1% regretted) were outside of the social groupings (17.0% regretted) or had no paid work (10.0% regretted). 25% of the regretters had psychiatric problems prior to the sterilization. There was no association found between the number of children the type of contraceptive used prior to the sterilization and later regret. The main reason given for regret was the desire for more children. 1% of the sterilized women requested refertilization. Conclusions drawn from the study are that physicians should recommend counselling to patients seeking sterilization.