---
name: birth-control-assessment
description: Use when asked to administer, score, or explain a Birth Control Assessment — contraceptive suitability using UK Medical Eligibility Criteria (UK MEC) — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples; closely related to contraception-assessment.
---

# Birth Control Assessment

Contraceptive suitability evaluation using UK Medical Eligibility
Criteria (UK MEC) categories, with comprehensive risk profiling for
DVT, cardiovascular disease, BMI, smoking, and migraine with aura.

## Scoring

**Instrument:** UK MEC for Contraceptive Use. Categories 1–4:

- **UK MEC 1** — no restriction for use of the method.
- **UK MEC 2** — advantages generally outweigh theoretical or proven
  risks.
- **UK MEC 3** — theoretical or proven risks usually outweigh the
  advantages.
- **UK MEC 4** — unacceptable health risk if the method is used.

## What it covers

Demographics; menstrual history; contraceptive history; medical
history; cardiovascular risk factors; thromboembolism risk; current
medications; lifestyle assessment; contraceptive preferences; and
clinical recommendation.

## Relationship to contraception-assessment

This assessment and [[contraception-assessment]] both apply UK MEC
categorization; [[contraception-assessment]] explicitly screens across
11 named contraceptive methods, while this one is framed around general
suitability and risk profiling. Check which framing a given context
expects.

## Common pitfalls

- **Applying a UK MEC category without checking for combined risk
  factors** — UK MEC categorizes risk per condition; someone with
  multiple moderate risk factors (e.g. smoking plus migraine with aura)
  can have a combined risk the individual-condition category doesn't
  capture on its own — UK MEC guidance addresses this explicitly.
- **Using an outdated UK MEC edition** — the criteria are periodically
  revised; verify against the current edition rather than a cached
  version.
- **Treating UK MEC 3 as an automatic exclusion** — category 3 means
  risks usually outweigh benefits, not an absolute contraindication;
  clinical judgement and patient preference still matter.

## Learn more

- [FormExamples: birth-control-assessment](https://github.com/FormExamples/form-examples/tree/main/forms/birth-control-assessment) for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
- [[contraception-assessment]], [[hormone-replacement-therapy-assessment]], [[fertility-assessment]] for related reproductive-health assessments.