Most aussie men would try male contraception
A majority of Australian men would consider trying a male hormonal contraception if it were commercially available according to a study published in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.
A survey of new fathers in the postnatal ward of Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne Victoria found that 75.4 percent of respondents were favourable to trying some form of contraception.
The three most popular choices were (in descending order) a daily oral pill, a three-monthly injection or a two-yearly injection.
Surveyed were 118 Australian-born, English-speaking men who were visiting their female partners in hospital shortly after they had given birth between October 2000 and April 2001.
Study author, Dr Gareth Weston, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash Medical Centre said there was a strong link between acceptability of male hormonal contraception and acceptability of vasectomy.
"A commercially available male contraceptive is coming closer to reality, potentially expanding the range of options available for fertility control. Unfortunately, no method of contraception is perfect, and many couples are dissatisfied with currently available methods," Dr Weston said.
In an editorial in the same issue of the Medical Journal of Australia, Director of the ANZAC Research Institute and Professor of Andrology at University of Sydney, David Handelsman, said continued "impressive" progress had been made towards a practical contraceptive product for men.
"There is consensus that a combination progestin-plus androgen approach is optimal," Professor Handelsman said.
"The survey of Weston et al highlights a likely niche for the use of the hormonal male contraceptive - the postpartum period. This period is ideal, because it focuses on a stable couple with a predictable timing of contraceptive need and a situation in which reliable female contraceptives are not well suited, particularly during lactation.
"The finding that a hormonal male contraceptive is acceptable to an appropriate Australian target population is consistent with Australasian men having the highest rate of vasectomy in the world. These observations highlight the substantial need and market for a hormonal male contraceptive," Professor Handelsman said.