Sales of the morning-after pill surged across the U.S. after New Year 2022, new research shows. Nearly 41,000 extra pills were sold in the following week, a period linked to increased risks of unprotected sex.
Objective To estimate the increase in sales of emergency contraception following the New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day holiday.
Design Time series analysis using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model.
Setting Traditional (that is, “bricks and mortar”) retail outlets grocery stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, dollar stores, and military outlets in the United States from 2016 to 2022.
Data source Marketing data on weekly aggregated sales of items classified as emergency contraception gathered between 2016 and 2022 (n=362). On the basis of dates, weeks were classified as following the New Year holiday (n=6) or not (n=356).
Main outcome measure Weekly sales of levonorgestrel emergency contraception per 1000 women of reproductive age in the US population.
Results Sales of levonorgestrel emergency contraception significantly increased after the New Year holiday (0.63 (95% confidence interval 0.58 to 0.69) unit increase per 1000 women aged 15-44).
Sales of the morning-after pill surged across the U.S. after New Year 2022, new research shows. Nearly 41,000 extra pills were sold in the following week, a period linked to increased risks of unprotected sex.