Medical abortion: Outcomes in a family medicine setting

Purpose: to compare outcomes of early medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol in a family medicine setting and specialized reproductive health clinics. methods: this study used data collected from a prospective,open-label,randomized trial of oral versus buccal misoprostol efficacy. a secondary analysis was performed,evaluating efficacy,acceptability,and interventions after medication at the family medicine site compared with the 6 specialized reproductive health sites. results: comparing data from patients in the family medicine setting (n = 116) to specialized reproductive health sites (n = 731) revealed no difference in overall efficacy (95.7% vs 93.4%; p = .351). the family medicine site used a second dose of misoprostol more frequently than the other sites (6.9% vs 2.5%; p = .018). in addition,uterine aspiration after medical abortion at the family medicine site was not used for medically necessary reasons whereas reproductive health clinics used it 2.6% of the time (marginally significant; p = .094). patient satisfaction at family medicine sites was comparable to the other sites (91.2% vs 92.0%; p = .792). conclusion: medical abortion has similar efficacy and patient satisfaction when offered in a family medicine practice or at a reproductive health specialty clinic. these findings should reassure family physicians that medical abortion can be offered safely in their practices.