Perspective
Contraception
Contraception and sexual health: are we on the right track?
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J Tripp
Senior Lecturer in Child Health, Child Health, Peninsula Medical School, Church Lane, Heavitree, Exeter EX2 5SQ, UK; jhtripp@ex.ac.uk
Commentary on the paper by Krishnamoorthy et al (see page903)
Keywords: sexual health; young people; primary prevention; causes; solutions
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
In surveying the prescription of oral contraceptive pill to girls aged 10–16 inclusive, the authors of an interesting paper in this edition note a low overall prescription rate of combined oral contraception.1 This low overall prevalence should be interpreted recognising that those using progesterone only or injectable contraception were not included. Further, prescription rates increase two hundredfold between those under 13 (nearly half the denominator) compared to those of 16, and approximately double between 15 and 16; an age when significant numbers of girls become sexually active and increasingly adopt hormonal contraception in longer relationships with more frequent intercourse. While it is proper to address ways to improve uptake of hormonal contraception by young women at risk of unplanned pregnancy, I suggest that concentrating effort here at the expense of alternative strategies may lead to a "feel good" factor, but is not be the best use of scarce resources.
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- Adolescent use of the combined oral contraceptive pill: a retrospective observational study
- N Krishnamoorthy, S Ekins-Daukes, C R Simpson, R M Milne, P J Helms, and J S McLay
Arch. Dis. Child. 2005 90: 903-905.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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