Purpose: The purpose of this study was to follow-up adolescent girls with negative pregnancy tests (NPTs) through an 18-month follow-up analysis of health services received, patterns of contraception use, and pregnancy outcomes.
Method: This study involved a retrospective review of medical records of 129 adolescent patients who had a NPT result from clinical sites in an urban medical center during a 3-month period in 1997. A stratified random sample of participants was selected from adolescents who received care at 2 school-based health centers, a women's health center, and an adolescent health clinic associated with a large academic medical center.
Findings: Analysis of the 129 cases indicated that the cohort of adolescents with NPTs appears to be a higher risk group of girls than suggested by previous studies. Of the multi-ethnic sample with a mean age of 16.2 +/- 1.4 years at the time of the NPT, 47% had already had 1 or more pregnancies and 25% had 1 child. Thirty percent of the subjects were offered condoms, and 50% were offered hormonal contraception at the time of the NPT; only 46% were given a return appointment. By 18 months after the index pregnancy test, 36% of the subjects had 1 or more pregnancies, and the majority of the subjects had used no form of contraception or had used contraception inconsistently.
Conclusions: Comprehensive reproductive health services often are not offered to adolescents who receive NPT results. Sexually active teenagers need thorough reproductive care and consistent follow-up evaluation to avoid sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies.