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A Comparison of Women’s Regret After Vasectomy Versus Tubal Sterilization

From the Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; and Contraception and Reproductive Health Branch, Center for Population Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

Address reprint requests to: Denise J. Jamieson, MD, MPH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mailstop E-45, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA30333; E-mail: djamieson{at}cdc.gov.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the 5-year cumulative probability of regret and risk factors for regret among women whose husbands underwent vasectomy with women after tubal sterilization.

METHODS: A total of 525 women whose husbands underwent vasectomy were compared with 3672 women who underwent tubal sterilization in a prospective, multicenter, cohort study.

RESULTS: The cumulative probability of a woman expressing regret within 5 years after her husband’s vasectomy was 6.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.6, 8.6), which was similar to the 5-year cumulative probability of regret among women after tubal sterilization (7.0%, 95% CI 5.8, 8.1). Women who reported substantial conflict with their husbands before vasectomy were more than 25 times more likely to request that their husband have a reversal than women who did not report such conflict (rate ratio 25.3, 95% CI 2.9, 217.2). Similarly, women who reported substantial conflict with their husbands or partners before tubal sterilization were more then three times as likely to regret their decision and more than five times as likely to request a reversal than women who did not report such conflict (rate ratio 3.1, 95% CI 1.4, 7.0, and rate ratio 5.4, 95% CI 1.6, 17.6, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Most women did not express regret after their husband’s vasectomy and the probability of regret was similar to sterilized women. However, when there was substantial conflict between a woman and her husband before vasectomy or tubal sterilization, the probability of subsequent request for reversal was increased.

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