Resources
Newsletter Archive
May 2010
What’s New
June 27th is National HIV Testing Day! The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) founded the day in 1995 as an annual observance to promote HIV testing. Mark your calendar for June 27th! Visit http://aids.gov/awareness-days/national-hiv-testing-day/index.html to lean more.
Calendar
10/18 & 19/10: Save the Date! Region I Reproductive Health Conference (Portsmouth, NH)
Announcements
(1) Webinar: The Current and Future State of HIV Testing in the United States*
AIDS.gov is hosting a National HIV Testing Day webinar for Federal staff and grantees who work with domestic HIV/AIDS programs. To learn more about the webinar visit: http://aids.gov/awareness-days/national-hiv-testing-day/2010-webinar.html
*Please note this training is not being offered by the RTC
(2) Register now for PPLM trainings* including: Working with Parents and Sexuality Education Certification Series. For more information visit: http://www.pplm.net/training_calendar.cfm
*Please note this training is not being offered by the RTC
(3) Massachusetts Medical Society and its Committee on Men’s Health in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Men’s Health Partnership are sponsoring the 8th Annual Symposium on Men Health*. For more information visit: http://www.massmed.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Continuing_Education_and_Events&Template=/Conference/ConferenceDescription.cfm&ConferenceID=192
*Please note this training is not being offered by the RTC
May Article Highlights
Clinical
Factors associated with contraceptive nonuse among US women ages
Contraception 81 (2010) 427–434
Background: Women ages 35 years and older have the greatest proportion of contraceptive nonuse and unintended pregnancies ending in abortion.
Study Design: We conducted a population-based case-control study among women ages 35–44 years at risk of unwanted pregnancy using the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) data to investigate risk factors for contraceptive nonuse.
Results: At last intercourse, 9.8% of women reported not using any contraceptive method. Contraceptive nonusers, as compared to users, were more likely to be ages 40–44 years (OR=2.0, 95% CI 1.1–3.7), foreign-born (OR=4.3, 95% CI 1.9–9.7), black (OR=2.8, 95% CI 1.1–7.0), with household incomes 100–249% of the federal poverty level (FPL) (OR=2.5, 95% CI 1.1–5.8). Women who received contraceptive counseling in the past year had an 80% decreased risk of nonuse (95% CI 0.1–0.5).
Conclusion: Public health strategies to reduce unintended pregnancy, particularly among women ages 35 years and older, should focus on addressing disparities in contraceptive use and promoting contraceptive counseling.
Do Clinicians Screen Medicaid Patients for Syphilis or HIV When They Diagnose Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases?
George Rust, MD, MPH, Patrick Minor, MSPH, Neil Jordan, PdD, Robert Mayberry, PhD, and David Satcher MD, PdD
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, September 2003
Background: Patients diagnosed with gonorrhea or chlamydia are at high risk for HIV and syphilis, and should be offered screening for both.
Goal: This study measures HIV and syphilis screening rates among Medicaid patients diagnosed with another sexually transmitted disease (STD).
Study Design: Using 1998 Medicaid claims data from 4 states, we identified individuals diagnosed with gonorrhea, urogenital chlamydia, or pelvic inflammatory disease, and then measured the proportion receiving screening tests for HIV and syphilis.
Results: Only 25% of STD-diagnosed Medicaid patients received screening tests for syphilis and only 15% for HIV. We found significant state-to-state variability in screening rates.
Conclusion: Medicaid patients diagnosed with a nonbloodborne STD represent a high-risk group that is not adequately screened for syphilis and HIV despite repeated contact with medical professionals. Interventions should focus on eliminating
Teen Pregnancy
Implanon as a contraceptive choice for teenage mothers: a comparison of contraceptive choices, acceptability and repeat pregnancy
Lucy N. Lewis, Dorota A. Doherty, Martha Hickey, S. Rachel Skinner
Contraception 81 (2010) 421–426
Background: This study was conducted to compare the incidence of repeat teenage pregnancy over a 24-month period postpartum among users of Implanon, the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) or depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) and barrier methods or nothing (barrier/none). Contraceptive continuation rates 24 months postpartum for Implanon and COCP/DMPA were also compared.
Study Design: A prospective cohort study was conducted. Comparison groups were postpartum teenagers (12–18 years old) who self selected Implanon (n=73), COCP/DMPA (n=40) and barrier/none (n=24). Questionnaires were used to gather data at recruitment and postpartum at 6 weeks and then 3 monthly intervals for 2 years.
Results: At 24 months postpartum, 48 (35%) teenagers had conceived. Implanon users became pregnant later than other contraceptive groups (p=.022), with mean time to first repeat pregnancy of 23.8 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 22.2–25.5], compared to 18.1 months (95% CI, 15.1–20.7) for COCP/DMPA and 17.6 months (95% CI, 14.0–21.3) for barrier/none. Implanon users were more likely to continue their use at 24 months than COCP/DMPA (pb.001) users. The mean duration for Implanon users was 18.7 months (95% CI, 17.0–20.3) compared to 11.9 months (95% CI, 9.5–14.3) for COCP/DMPA.
Conclusion: Teenagers who choose Implanon are significantly less likely to become pregnant and were found to continue with this method of contraception 24 months postpartum compared to those who choose COCP or DMPA and barrier methods or nothing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Region I Title X Family Planning Training Center
JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc.
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 02210
e-mail: RTCTitleX@jsi.com
www.famplan.org
