After more than a decade of improvement, trends in the sexual and reproductive health of US teens and young adults have flattened out, or in some cases, have worsened. For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has compiled available youth sexual health data from multiple sources into a single report. This allows better analysis of the sexual risk behaviors and health outcomes among teens and young adults.
Residents of Orange County should be concerned about these trends. Supervisor John Moorlach led the Orange County Board of Supervisors in attempting to take contracts from Planned Parenthood over their ties to abortion services.
The CDC report, Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10-24 Years, United States, 2002-2007. shows the magnitude of the problem:
- About 1 million teens and young adults aged 10-24 were reported to have chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis in 2006. These sexually transmitted diseases can have long term health consequences if left untreated. For women, these diseases can lead to difficulties conceiving children or infertility.
- Nearly one-quarter of girls aged 15-19 years and 45% of those aged 20-24 had a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection during 2003-04. HPV can cause cervical cancer in some individuals. Cervical cancer can be fatal if left untreated. Even if treated, cervical cancer can lead to difficulty conceiving children or infertility.
- There were approximately 745,000 pregnancies among US women under age 20 in 2004.
- In 2006, the majority of new HIV diagnoses among teen and young adults aged 10-24 occurred among those aged 20-24 and among males.
- Approximately 100,000 young women aged 10-24 years visited a hospital emergency room for a nonfatal sexual assault injury during 2004-05.
Progress is slowing in several areas after several years of declines. Teen birth rates increased in 2006 and 2007. Teen births had been in a large decline from 1991 to 2005. The rates of AIDS cases among males aged 15-24 increased from 1997 to 2006. Another common, and often silent, sexually transmitted disease, syphilis, increased the number of cases in teens and young adults. If left untreated, syphilis can damage the fertility of both men and women and lead to death if never treated.
The report also showed that Hispanic teens 15-19 were three times more likely to become pregnant compared to non-Hispanic peers. Hispanics had 132.8 births per 1,000 females, non-Hispanic blacks had 128 births per 1,000 females, and non-Hispanic whites had 45.2 births per 1,000 females.
Many young people engage in potentially risky sexual behaviors that can result in unintended consequences such as pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, or sexually transmitted diseases. Adolescent reproductive health services which include comprehensive sexual education are essential to prevent these problems.
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