Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Report Cites Flaws in IUD Safety Study

A report in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology says that serious research flaws were ignored in a 10-year-old study that led to the widespread belief that intrauterine contraceptive devices are unsafe. Because of the report, published this week, experts are taking another look at the safety of IUDs, once popular in the United States but largely abandoned after an era of lawsuits and investigations. The journal’s report said the original study wrongly concluded that IUDs increased the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, which can cause infertility. A rebuttal in the journal said the new report was “replete with factual error, (and) misrepresentation.”