A contraceptive app is 93 per cent effective, and even better than the pill!
The app uses body temperature to track a woman’s menstrual cycle.
The findings, based on 22,785 women, even show Natural Cycles works slightly better than the Pill in preventing pregnancies, reported Daily Mail.
The smartphone app, which is approved in the EU as a contraceptive, predicts the days of the month when a woman is most fertile.
On these, which are called red days, it advises couples use a condom to reduce the risk of an accidental pregnancy.
Since its inception in 2014, its manufacturers have claimed it to have a 93 per cent effectiveness rate. However, the trials were based on much smaller groups.
Professor Kristina Gemzell Danielsson, based at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, was behind the results – which are the largest of its kind.
She said: ‘Since more and more women are choosing natural contraception as an option, we welcome that there is a certified app with solid clinical evidence.’
Dr James Trussell, based at Princeton University, New Jersey, also welcomed the research published in the journal Contraception.
He said: ‘This is the first study to provide typical and perfect-use estimates of effectiveness of an app and shows the app is effective.’
Participants involved in the study had an average age of 29. Nearly 7 per cent went onto become pregnant.
The Pill is known to have 91 per cent effectiveness in preventing pregnancies. Other methods can be as low as 75 per cent.
Dr Raoul Scherwitzl, co-founder of the app said the results ‘confirm the effectiveness of Natural Cycles, which is used by 380,000 people worldwide. You can read more about the app here.
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