title: Seven years of teenage pregnancy in an inner London genitourinary medicine service - a retrospective cohort study.
abstract: Young people attending genitourinary medicine services are at high risk of unplanned pregnancy. We performed a retrospective cohort study to identify characteristics of pregnant teenagers accessing an inner London genitourinary medicine service. There were 481 pregnancies in 458 teenagers with 54 previous pregnancies and 46 previous terminations of pregnancy. The under-18 and under-16 teenage pregnancy rates were 92.1 and 85.8 per 1000 age-matched clinic attendees, respectively. Median age was 17.1 years. 'Black Other' teenagers ('Black British', 'Mixed White-Black Caribbean' and 'Mixed White-Black African') were over-represented, compared to our clinic population, while those of White ethnicity were under-represented. Few pregnancies (1.5%) were planned with the majority (64%) intending terminations of pregnancy. Most teenagers did not use consistent contraception. Two-thirds of patients had attended genitourinary medicine services in the past and sexually transmitted infection prevalence at presentation was high. Effectively targeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of teenage genitourinary medicine clinic attendees may have a significant impact on reducing sexually transmitted infections, unplanned pregnancy and terminations of pregnancy in this group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genitourinary Medicine, St George's University Hospital, London, UK ahegazi@doctors.net.uk.
authors.forename: Aseel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hegazi
authors.affiliation: Department of Genitourinary Medicine, St George's University Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Daley
authors.affiliation: Department of Genitourinary Medicine, St George's University Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Genitourinary Medicine, St George's University Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Felicity
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: McLeod
authors.affiliation: Department of Genitourinary Medicine, St George's University Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Saba
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafiezadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Genitourinary Medicine, St George's University Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Prime
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000208:ethnology*; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Europe; contraception; genitourinary medicine services; location; sexual behaviour; sexually transmitted infection; unplanned pregnancy; women; young people