Demographic and Other Characteristics, and Rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections among Adolescents Who Underwent Multiple Abortions in 1 Year.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine characteristics of adolescent patients presenting for multiple terminations within 1 year and evaluate sexually transmitted infection (STI) status at each visit.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional retrospective chart review to identify women younger than age 20 years who underwent multiple abortions during 1 year at John H. Stroger, Jr Hospital of Cook County.

INTERVENTIONS: None.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates and results of STI testing at each abortion encounter.

RESULTS: We identified 381 adolescent patients with 2 or more abortions in 1 year. Of the 285 women who received STI testing at both clinical encounters, we identified 12 women with Chlamydia trachomatis (CT)/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) coinfection. Among patients who were not coinfected, 47 of 273 (17.2%) and 4 of 273 (1.5%) tested positive for CT and GC at the initial visit, respectively. Among women who were STI negative at the time of their first abortion, 25 of 226 (11.1%) were positive for CT and 1 of 269 (0.37%) was positive for GC at the time of their second termination.

CONCLUSION: Young women in our study had higher baseline rates of CT and GC than rates reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an age-matched population. High rates of positivity at the second visit might indicate a need for increased health education and/or frequency of testing in high-risk groups. In the adolescent population for whom patient encounters can be limited, the abortion care visit provides an opportunity to provide education and mitigate risk.