RISKY BEHAVIOUR - Teen oral sex on the rise
RISKY BEHAVIOUR - Teen oral sex on the rise
DURING THE past decade, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of teenagers and young adults engaging in oral sex and, less commonly, having anal intercourse, according to data from STD clinics in Baltimore, Maryland.
The finding is not all that surprising, Dr Emily Erbelding from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Centre in Baltimore said.
She presented the current study findings on Tuesday in Jacksonville, Florida at the 2006 National STD Prevention Conference sponsored by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
In examining the 1994 medical records of 2,598 12- to 25-year olds, and the 2004 medical records of 6,438 subjects of the same age, attending STD clinics in Baltimore, Erbelding and colleagues found that over the 10-year period the prevalence of self-reported oral sex in the previous 90 days doubled among males (from 16 per cent to 32 per cent) and more than doubled among females (from 14 per cent to 38 per cent).
There was also an increase in rectal sex among young women, “but it was a lot less common than oral sex,” Erbelding said. Among young women, the prevalence of self-reported anal sex over the period rose from 3 per cent to 5.5 per cent.
However, Erbelding emphasised that oral and anal sex may result in the transmission of STDs that will not be detected in urine tests.
Therefore, “clinicians need to routinely ask their adolescent and young adult patients about the full range of sexual behaviours and educate young people in general about what the relative risks are for different types of STDs for various sexual be haviours,” Erbelding said.
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05-12-2006, 07:08 AM
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