WUNRN
STD - Sexually Transmitted Disease
By
ROBERT PREIDT
July 19, 2009
Birth rates among
Birth
rates among
(Blend
Images/Getty Images)
It found that previously improving
trends in teens' and young adults' sexual and reproductive health have
flattened or may be worsening in some cases.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention researchers analyzed national data from 2002-2007. Among their
findings:
·
About
one-third of adolescents hadn't received instruction on methods of birth
control before age 18.
·
In 2004,
there were about 745,000 pregnancies among females younger than age 20. This
included an estimated 16,000 pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 14.
·
Syphilis
cases among young people aged 15 to 24 have increased in both males and females
in recent years.
·
In 2006,
about one million young people aged 10 to 24 were reported to have chlamydia,
gonorrhea or syphilis. Nearly one-quarter of females aged 15 to 19, and 45
percent of females aged 20 to 24 had a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection
during 2003-2004.
·
From
1997 to 2006, rates of AIDS cases among males aged 15 to 24 increased.
·
In 2006,
the majority of new diagnoses of HIV infection among young people occurred
among males and those aged 20 to 24.
·
From
2004 to 2006, about 100,000 females aged 10 to 24 visited a hospital emergency
department for nonfatal sexual assault, including 30,000 females aged 10 to 14.
"This report
identifies a number of concerns regarding the sexual and reproductive health of
our nation's young people," Janet Collins, director of CDC's National
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, said in a news
release.
"It is disheartening that after
years of improvement with respect to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted
diseases, we now see signs that progress is stalling and many of these trends
are going in the wrong direction," she said.
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