Attitudes towards contraceptive pill use in two different populations in Thrace, Greece.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the differentiation in attitudes towards contraceptive pill use in two different populations in Thrace, Greece. A retrospective study on representatives of the two major religious subgroups in Thrace: 127 Orthodox Christians and 120 Muslims. The questionnaire was designed to investigate women's opinions concerning the possible beneficial and adverse effects of the contraceptive pill.

RESULTS

In comparison with Christians, a higher percentage of Muslims responded 'don't know' in questions about the pill's efficacy in regulating menses (p = 0.019), 'yes' concerning the inconvenience of daily uptake (p = 0.032) and the pill's contribution to nausea (p = 0.003), and 'maybe' in the question concerning the pill's contribution to depression and headaches (p < 0.001). A higher percentage of Christians responded 'yes' concerning the pill's contribution to depression and headaches, and 'don't know' concerning the pill's contribution to nausea. There were no significant differences in the responses to the remaining questions, and it was clear that most women believed that use of the pill is correlated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

Muslims appeared more reluctant than Christians to use the pill as a contraceptive method. Christians seemed to be better informed about the pill's phamacological actions and beneficial effects, but both populations were unaware of current information regarding the pill's safety. There is a need to promote information about these topics in Thrace.