Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Early age of sexual debut: a risky experience.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Stanley, Margaret |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Abstract | ©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2009: 35(2) Background Any discussion on sexual activity by young adolescents incites the expression of deeply held views accompanied frequently by opinions on its prevention, which – although well meant – are often quite unrealistic. However, the age of sexual initiation (the sexual debut) is of substantial interest in the context of public health and social policy. The UK at the end of the 20th century had the highest rate of teenage births in Western Europe. There is also a continuing upward trend in the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) amongst young people. Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is an extremely common STI. The lifetime risk of acquiring a genital HPV is between 50% and 80%. The peak prevalence in women is in the 15–19-year-old age group and the acquisition is usually seen soon after the initiation of sexual activity. Genital warts, also caused by HPV (though by 'low-risk', i.e. not cancer-causing, types), represent the commonest viral STI in the UK with almost 84 000 cases reported from sexual health clinics in 2006. The peak incidence in women is again in the 15–19-yearold age group, mirroring the average age of onset of sexual activity in the UK. The relationship between the development of genital warts and the age of sexual debut is easy to understand, but the relationship between early sexual activity and the development of cervical cancer, also an HPV-caused disease, is less intuitive. Cervical cancer manifests decades after infection with HPV and it is not immediately obvious why the age at which a woman acquires 'high-risk' (i.e. cancer-causing) HPV should be a risk factor. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1783/147118909787931979 |
| PubMed reference number | 19356285 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 35 |
| Issue Number | 2 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://jfprhc.bmj.com/content/familyplanning/35/2/118.full.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1783/147118909787931979 |
| Journal | The journal of family planning and reproductive health care |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
