Adolescent use of the combined oral contraceptive pill: a retrospective observational study

Adolescent Females and Hormonal Contraception: A Retrospective Study in Primary Care

“…The proportion of 10 -11-year-olds prescribed the COCP remained low, and similar to previously published data [13].…”

“…In England, the results of National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles 2000 (NATSAL 2000) and the 2001 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HSBC) surveys would suggest that approximately 26 -40% of females have sexual intercourse before the age of 16 years, with a mean age of first intercourse for sexually active females of 14.1 years [1,19]. Our data on hormonal contraceptive prescribing in primary care would suggest that by [2005][2006]4.1% of all 14-year-olds and 11.6% of all 15-year-olds were being prescribed a hormonal contraceptive, an increase over the 3.0% and 8.6% previously reported for these age groups in 1999 [13]. Set against population surveys reporting that approximately one-sixth of 14-year-olds and one-third to one-half of 15-year-olds are sexually active, the implication is that approximately onethird of sexually active 14-and 15-year-olds are being prescribed hormonal contraception by their GP.…”

“…Although in this study we have investigated the primary care prescription of hormonal contraceptives to Scottish adolescent females, the observations made here are likely to reflect secular trends in the whole of the UK [13,17].…”

“…Data were acquired for April 1 through March 31 for 2000 -2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004 -2005, and 2005-2006. This database, which represents 31% of all Scottish primary care practices, and has been shown to be complete and accurate and to represent the gender, age, and rural and urban mix of the Scottish population [13][14][15][16]. The database contains prescribing data on approximately 2.1 million individuals, including approximately 100,000 adolescent females 10 -19 years of age.…”

“…In contrast, hormonal contraception is predominantly supplied by primary care physicians (especially in younger age groups and rural areas) with a smaller proportion via family planning clinics (FPCs) in the UK (we have previously reported that fivefold more adolescents aged 10 -16 years obtain hormonal contraception from a primary care physician than an FPC [13]). We therefore sought to assess the impact of widely disseminated policies and recommendations on the levels of primary care hormonal contraception prescribing in the years 2000 -2006.…”