CHARACTERIZATION OF ADOLESCENTS’ CONTRACEPTIVE PRACTICES IN A PRIMARY CARE UNIT

Introduction and Objectives: Adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health is a priority for public healthcare. The aim is to characterize the contraceptive practices of adolescents of a primary care unit (PCU). Methods: Retrospective study of female adolescents, between 13 and 18 years, with follow-up in a PCU in Child Health Care Program (CHCP) and/or Family Planning Counselling (FPC), nulliparous. It was evaluated whether there was record of the onset of sexual activity (OSA), the method of contraception used and frequency of FPC. Data were collected from medical records made in CHCP and/or FPC and statistical analysis was made in Excel. Results: The population studied involved 300 adolescents, with a mean age of 15.6 years. In the group of 13-15 years old (n=145), in 96.6% there was no information about OSA. Only 1.4% would have already had OSA, all made contraception (50% oral contraception only and 50% combined contraception) and 50% had yet at least one FPC. Overall, 98.6% never had a FPC. In the group of 16-18 years old (n = 155), 16.8% had already had OSA. Of these, 100% were using contraception (57.7% only oral contraception, 7.8% condoms only and 30.7% combined contraception) and 84.6% had at least one FPC. In 53.5% of cases, there’s no data available on OSA. Conclusion: Medical records are insufficient in order to perform an adequate characterization of adolescents’ contraceptive practices patterns, especially when addressing: age of the first sexual intercourse, use of contraception and discussion of topics related to sexual and reproductive health.