Journal Article

Cochrane for Clinicians: Preventing Unintended Adolescent Pregnancy

Ray, Mary E, Klein, David A

2017

Overview

Practice Pointers Unintended adolescent pregnancy is associated with adverse physical and psychological outcomes for mother and child, lower lifelong socioeconomic and educational achievement, and higher medical costs.2 Births among adolescents have been decreasing over time in most countries, including the United States, primarily because of lower rates of sexual activity and higher rates of contraception use.2-4 However, the rate of unintended adolescent pregnancy in the United States is higher than in many other industrialized countries and disproportionately affects minority and impoverished youth.3,4 This Cochrane review included 53 trials with 105,368 adolescents across community, home, school, and clinic settings in varied cultural and economic contexts.1 Unintended pregnancy was significantly reduced over medium- and long-term follow-up periods among participants who were randomized to receive a combination of educational and contraceptive-promoting interventions compared with those who received standard sex education, general counseling, or no intervention (relative risk [RR] = 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5 to 0.87; NNT = 25; 95% CI, 17 to 67; n = 1,905). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that clinicians broadly and confidentially inquire about adolescents' reproductive health care needs and offer services at every encounter.5 This Cochrane review provides additional evidence that education and concurrent information about contraception can decrease the risk of unintended adolescent pregnancy.1 The practice recommendations in this activity are available at http://www.cochrane.org/CD005215. editor's note: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, the Departments of the Air Force or Navy or their respective Medical Departments, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.

• Publisher: American Academy of Family Physicians
• Subject: Birth control / Clinical trials / Education / Intervention / Pregnancy / Teenage pregnancy / Teenagers