SynthesisBMJ global health2020
Effectiveness, safety and acceptability of medical abortion at home versus in the clinic: a systematic review and meta-analysis in response to COVID-19.
Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Telemedicine for the provision of medication abortion to pregnant people at up to twelve weeks of pregnancy: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.Reproductive health · 2024Pooled it
- Reproductive justice in the time of COVID-19: a systematic review of the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health.Reproductive health · 2021Pooled it
- Effectiveness, safety and acceptability of medical abortion at home versus in the clinic: a systematic review and meta-analysis in response to COVID-19.BMJ global health · 2020Pooled it
- Sexual and reproductive health consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria: an infodemiological survey.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Women's real-time pain and stress during medical abortion: An ecological momentary assessment study.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Feasibility of medication abortion self-care service delivery in Ghana.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Changes in Support for Advance Provision and Over-the-Counter Access to Medication Abortion.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Expert Pathology for Gestational Trophoblastic Disease: Towards an International Multidisciplinary Team Meeting.Gynecologic and obstetric investigation · 2024Review
- Adaptations to comprehensive abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies of provision in Bolivia, Mali, Nepal, and the occupied Palestinian territory.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2023Article
- Pathways to medical abortion self-use (MASU): results from a cross-sectional survey of women's experiences in Kenya and Uganda.BMC women's health · 2023Article
- Effectiveness and acceptability of home use of misoprostol for medical abortion up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergency measures on abortion care taken during this period in a French region (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur).Journal of gynecology obstetrics and human reproduction · 2022Article
- Improving experience of medical abortion at home in a changing therapeutic, technological and regulatory landscape: a realist review.BMJ open · 2022Review
- Comprehension of an Over-the-Counter Drug Facts Label Prototype for a Mifepristone and Misoprostol Medication Abortion Product.Obstetrics and gynecology · 2022Article
- Looking ahead in the COVID-19 pandemic: emerging lessons learned for sexual and reproductive health services in low- and middle-income countries.Reproductive health · 2021Article
- Effectiveness and acceptability of "at home" versus "at hospital" early medical abortion - A lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective cohort study.European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology · 2021Article
- The perspective of Canadian health care professionals on abortion service during the COVID-19 pandemic.Family practice · 2021Article
- Real-Time Effects of Payer Restrictions on Reproductive Healthcare: A Qualitative Analysis of Cost-Related Barriers and Their Consequences among U.S. Abortion Seekers on Reddit.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Effectiveness, safety and acceptability of no-test medical abortion (termination of pregnancy) provided via telemedicine: a national cohort study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2021Article
- Is the Right to Abortion at Risk in Times of COVID-19? The Italian State of Affairs within the European Context.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIncreased access to home-based medical abortion may offer women a convenient, safe and effective abortion method, reduce burdens on healthcare systems and support social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Home-based medical abortion is defined as any abortion where mifepristone, misoprostol or both medications are taken at home.
methodsA systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomised studies (NRSs) were conducted. We searched databases from inception to 10 July 2019 and 14 June 2020. Successful abortion was the main outcome of interest. Eligible studies were RCTs and NRSs studies with a concurrent comparison group comparing home versus clinic-based medical abortion. Risk ratios (RRs) and their 95% CIs were calculated. Estimates were calculated using a random-effects model. We used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach to assess risk of bias by outcome and to evaluate the overall quality of the evidence.
resultsWe identified 6277 potentially eligible published studies. Nineteen studies (3 RCTs and 16 NRSs) were included with 11 576 women seeking abortion up to 9 weeks gestation. Neither the RCTs nor the NRS found any difference between home-based and clinic-based administration of medical abortion in having a successful abortion (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.01, I
conclusionHome-based medical abortion is effective, safe and acceptable to women. This evidence should be used to expand women's abortion options and ensure access to abortion for women during COVID-19 and beyond. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020183171.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.