factors promoting tubal ligation in females presenting to tertiary care centers

objective: despite development of new contraceptive methods, sterilization remained the most widely used method. our objective was to determine the factors contributing to decision making for tubal ligation in females. materials and methods: a cross sectional study was conducted in jinnah post graduate medical centre (jpmc) between march - november 2008. about 505 females using contraceptive measures were consecutively included. those having any severe debilitating disease and unfamiliar with “urdu” language were excluded. three trained co researchers conducted structured interviews to determine the frequency and factors associated with tubal ligation. results: the final multiple logistic regression showed illiteracy [aor 2.91 95% ci 1.53-5.53], number of children < 3 [aor 6.15 95% ci 2.61-14.50], age of women < 30 [aor 0.12 95% ci 0.06-0.22] years and information gained through health worker [aor 3.04 95% ci 1.60-5.80] to be statistically significant. conclusion: this highlights tubal ligation was more common in uneducated women of age > 35 years having <3 children. the most common means of promoting tubal ligation was information gained through health workers.