title: Prevalence of positive preoperative pregnancy testing in teenagers scheduled for orthopedic surgery.
abstract: The pregnancy status of female teenagers presenting for orthopaedic surgery is often unknown. Anesthetics may have teratogenic or abortive effects. The authors report the results of a screening program for unrecognized pregnancy in 532 female teenagers presenting for orthopaedic surgery. Five patients with a positive urine human chorionic gonadotropin test were identified, for a prevalence of 1 positive result in 106 patients tested (0.9%). Surgery was cancelled in each case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Valley Children's Hospital, Madera, California 93638, USA. Whennrikus@valleychildrens.org
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Hennrikus
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gerardi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*