Research with a new morning-after pill reveals that it can be effective at preventing pregnancy up to 5 days after unprotected sex. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and National Health Service Lothian in Scotland compared the effectiveness of the commonly available morning-after pill which contains levonorgestrel with a new form containing ulipristal acetate. The levonorgestrel version is effective at pregnancy up to three days after unprotected intercourse, but is most effective if taken as soon as possible.

The study involved 2221 women who were randomly assigned to receive a single, supervised dose of either the new pill or the more widely available levonorgestrel. Among the 1696 women who received emergency contraception within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, 844 received ulipristal acetate and 852 took levonorgestrel. A total of 15 pregnancies resulted with the new pill and 22 with levonorgestrel. Among the 203 women who took the pill between 3 and 5 days after unprotected intercourse, three became pregnant and all had taken levonorgestrel.

Researcher Anna Glasier notes that there was a low (6 percent) rate of expected pregnancy in the group which makes it difficult to measure its efficacy. “Arguably, over 90 percent of participants did not need to use emergency contraception,” said Glasier. “The difficulty, however, is in identifying this small population of women.”

Though the new emergency contraceptive offers the benefit of preventing pregnancies several days after intercourse, it is not available over the counter and can be more costly than levonorgestrel.

The study results are published in the medical journal, The Lancet.

Source: http://carnalnation.com/