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Prevalence of home pregnancy testing among adolescents
M L Shew1, W L Hellerstedt, R E Sieving
1Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, School of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
Objectives:
This study estimated the prevalence of home pregnancy testing among adolescents.
Methods:
A survey was administered in 11 urban clinics to 600 females aged 13 to 19 years.
Results:
The prevalence of home pregnancy test use was 34% among 474 sexually experienced youths; 77% of the users had received at least 1 negative pregnancy test result, and 48% took no further action for confirmation. Compared with those who had never used such tests, users were older, younger at sexual debut, less likely to consistently use effective birth control, and more likely to have ever been pregnant.
Conclusions:
Health care clinics are important sources for pregnancy prevention, but clinics may have limited opportunity to intervene with some youths who use home pregnancy tests.