RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: a) To study the most commonly used Contraceptive Methods (CM) among the population group under survey and b) to analyse the influence of socio-economic (SEL) and educational levels (CL) on their use. DESIGN: Descriptive study of a crossover type by means of a survey. SETTING: Six general medical consulting rooms in two urban Health Centres. PATIENTS: The study was based on a representative sample of 384 women between 15 and 45 years old (a.i.) who attended for health-care for whatever reason. Interventions. A survey carried out by the family doctors in the consulting rooms, where information was gathered on both the CM used and several socio-demographic variables. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: For most couples, the most commonly used CM was the condom, whose use became greater as the SEL (p < 0.01) and EL (p < 0.0001) rose. Oral contraceptives were used more by women with a lower SEL (p = 0.01). Tubular ligature was more common among women with a lower educational level (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from our sample by our methodology support our initial hypothesis in the sense that they show the influence of EL and SEL on the use of various contraceptive methods.