Teenage pregnancy in an inner London GUM service
Hegazi, A.; Williams, E.; Andrews, S.; Prime, K.
Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care 39(1): 60
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 1471-1893 PMID: 23296857 DOI: 10.1136/jfprhc-2012-100499Document Number: 565813
Many young people attending genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics are using inadequate contraception and are at high risk of unplanned pregnancy. Those attending for pregnancy testing or to request emergency contraception are a particularly high risk group, with the majority failing to return for contraceptive follow-up and continuing to use unreliable methods of contraception At 43.5 per 1000, the London Borough of Wandsworth has an under-18 teenage pregnancy rate (TPR) well above both the national average of 35.4 and that of London as a whole (37.1). Sixty-one percent of pregnancies in this age group end in termination (67% in Wandsworth). We carried out a cross-sectional study of all pregnant teenagers aged ≤18 years accessing the St George's Hospital GUM service between January 2005 and October 2008. Two hundred and thirteen pregnancies occurred in 206 patients. Five girls were.