Adolescent use of the combined oral contraceptive pill . A retrospective observational study

Narayanan Krishnamoorthy ¹, Suzie Ekins-Daukes ¹, Colin R Simpson ¹, Robert M Milne ¹, Peter J Helms ¹ and James S McLay ^1*

¹ University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.mclay{at}abdn.ac.uk.

Accepted 6 December 2004

Abstract

Objective:To determine the extent of combined oral contraceptive use by girls 10-16 years of age in Scotland. Design:Assessment of combined oral contraceptive prescribing in 35414 girls 10-16 years of age for the year 1st November 1999-31st October 2000 from data retrieved from 161 primary care practices taking part in the Scottish Programme for Improving Clinical Effectiveness in Primary Care (SPICE-pc), using the national Scottish primary care computer system GPASS, and from national aggregated data from Family Planning Clinics collected by the Scottish Executive's Information and Statistics Division (ISD). Setting:161 primary care practices in Scotland and Scottish Family Planning Clinic data. Results:During the study period the oral contraceptive pill was prescribed by a primary care physician to 1531 girls (4.3%) aged 10-16 years. The age specific prevalence rates per 1000 girls registered with their family doctor rose from 0.9/1000 girls aged 12 years or younger, to 6.9, 30, 86.3, and 174.8/1000 for girls aged 13, 14, 15, and 16 years respectively. The overall prevalence of combined oral contraceptive prescribing by primary care physicians was 43.2/1000 girls aged 10-16 years. A further 1765 girls aged 13-16 years obtained a prescription for the OCP from a Scottish Family Planning Clinic, giving an overall prevalence rate for FPC prescribing of 8.0/1000 girls aged 10-16 years. Despite reportedly high levels of sexual activity and teenage pregnancy in this age group, these results confirm that OCP use is relatively low. Conclusions:The UK is recognised as having the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe, but despite the medical and social concerns about the sexual health of teenagers the level of oral contraceptive use in this young age group remains low.

Keywords: Adolescence, Family planning, Oral contraceptive, Sexual attidudes, primary care practice

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• Krishnamoorthy, N, Ekins-Daukes, S, Simpson, C R, Milne, R M, Helms, P J, McLay, J S (2005). Adolescent use of the combined oral contraceptive pill: a retrospective observational study. Sex. Transm. Infect. 81: 482-482 [Full Text]  
• Tripp, J (2005). Contraception and sexual health: are we on the right track?. Arch. Dis. Child. 90: 885-886 [Full Text]