Demographic and Other Characteristics, and Rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections among Adolescents Who Underwent Multiple Abortions in 1 Year.

STUDY

OBJECTIVE

To examine characteristics of adolescent patients presenting for multiple terminations within 1 year and evaluate sexually transmitted infection (STI) status at each visit.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND

PARTICIPANTS

Cross-sectional retrospective chart review to identify women younger than age 20 years who underwent multiple abortions during 1 year at John H. Stroger, Jr Hospital of Cook County.

INTERVENTIONS: None.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates and results of STI testing at each abortion encounter.

RESULTS

We identified 381 adolescent patients with 2 or more abortions in 1 year. Of the 285 women who received STI testing at both clinical encounters, we identified 12 women with Chlamydia trachomatis (CT)/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) coinfection. Among patients who were not coinfected, 47 of 273 (17.2%) and 4 of 273 (1.5%) tested positive for CT and GC at the initial visit, respectively. Among women who were STI negative at the time of their first abortion, 25 of 226 (11.1%) were positive for CT and 1 of 269 (0.37%) was positive for GC at the time of their second termination.

CONCLUSION

Young women in our study had higher baseline rates of CT and GC than rates reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an age-matched population. High rates of positivity at the second visit might indicate a need for increased health education and/or frequency of testing in high-risk groups. In the adolescent population for whom patient encounters can be limited, the abortion care visit provides an opportunity to provide education and mitigate risk.