Majority of unplanned adolescent pregnancies result from lack of contraception

Takeaway

• The majority of unplanned adolescent pregnancies result from lack of contraception.

Why this matters

• 50% of unintended pregnancies occur in adolescent women worldwide.
• Many of these unintended adolescent pregnancies end in unsafe abortions; adolescents are more likely to pursue abortions from untrained providers or to have a self-induced abortion compared with older women.

Key results

• 72.2% used no contraception within the last 5 years.
• Of those using contraception, pregnancy occurred because of failure of:
  • Traditional methods: 5.1%; 
  • Short-acting modern methods: 7.2%; and
  • Long-acting modern methods: 0.1%.
• For those who discontinued medications at any time in the last 5 years:
  • 2% discontinued traditional methods,
  • 13.2% discontinued short-acting modern methods, and
  • 0.4% discontinued long-acting modern methods.
• Reasons for discontinuation included failure, side effects, health concerns.
• Living in a rural area (P<.05) and no education (P<.05) were associated with contraception nonuse.

Study design

• Cohort taken from the Demographic and Health Survey program, a representative household survey carried out in over 90 low- and middle-income countries since 1984.
• Women between ages 15 and 19 years with an unintended pregnancy were identified (n=2173).
• Reasons for discontinuing contraception were abstracted.
• Funding: None.

Limitations

• Not all reasons for discontinuation captured.