Contraceptive Use and Births in Teens 15-19 Years Old

A recent report has highlighted the use of contraceptive use and births in teenagers 15-19 years old. The data reports that there has been no significant change in the number of never-married teenagers who have had sexual intercourse; the percentages still stand near 43% and 42% for females and males, respectively. However, there was an increase in the use of contraceptives, such as male use of condom in addition to a partner’s hormonal contraceptive. About 78% of females use a method of contraception the first time they had sex, while 85% of males reported using a contraceptive the first time they had sex. The percentage of female teenagers who used hormonal contraceptives, other than the pill, their first time also increased to six percent. Data has shown that people of Hispanic origin are much less likely to have sex with someone they just met. However, regardless of ethnicity, the older a person is when they first have sex, the more likely it is that they are in a relationship.

While teenagers are practicing safe sex, there were still 39.1 births for every 100 in 2009. This was a historical low for the United States, but still considerably high in comparison to other countries like Canada, Germany, and Italy; these countries had birth rates of 14, 10, and 7, respectively. Of the first-world countries in the world, why do Americans have one of the higher teen birth rates? Is this because of sexual education programs or is it simply an aspect of our culture? It seems unavoidable, but as teens get older, it is likely that they will have had more partners in the past year.  Perhaps the focus now should not only be on young teens who are considering having sex, but also those who are older and already sexually active.

Antidepressant Use in Americans 12 and Older

Surprisingly, only a third of the people with severe psychological symptoms actually take antidepressant medication. Despite this fact, antidepressants are still the third most commonly prescribed drug taken by Americans of all ages. From 2005-2008, cholesterol-lowering drugs and analgesics, also known as painkillers, were the top two most prescribed drugs, with antidepressants following closely behind. A recent report on Antidepressant use in persons 12 and older: United States, 2005-2008 found that 11% of Americans 12 and over take antidepressants, of these people, over half have taken them for two or more years.

Non-Hispanic whites are more likely to take antidepressant medication than people of other races, although there was no difference in the usage of these types of medication based on income. Women were also more likely to take medication for severe depressive symptoms, about 40%. Many people take more than one antidepressant, although this study did not provide any data on how many medications taken per person.

Seeing a mental health professional is critical in tracking depression; the more drugs prescribed to a person, the more likely it is that they have seen a mental health professional in the past year. However, less than one third of persons taking just one antidepressant have seen a mental health professional in the past year. The data found in this study brings about many questions. How many people out there are in need of medication, yet refuse, or are unable, to get help? What are the long term effects of taking antidepressants in teenagers? And perhaps most importantly, why are there so many people taking antidepressants?

To view the full report please visit:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.pdf

Related articles:

Medical News Today uses data from survey-

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/236260.php

ABC Action News Report-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTAiaJ7iCdI

Sugar Drink Consumption

The consumption of sugar drinks in the United States has increased over the past thirty years.  So much, in fact, that some schools and councils have considered taxing these types of beverages and removing them from school cafeterias. However, outlawing such sugar drinks like soda, fruit drinks, and energy drinks, seems unlikely given that approximately 50% of the U.S. population consumes these types of beverages on any given day. 

U.S. dietary guidelines were issued in 2010 to limit the consumption of added sugars. These guidelines were further reinforced by the American Heart Association standards; the organization prescribes people to consume less than three 12-oz cans of carbonated soda per week (450 kilocalories [kcal]). Despite these recommendations, men and women consume an average of 175 kcal and 94 kcal, respectively, on any given day. At this rate, it is likely that many consume more than the recommended amount of sugar in a week, thus increasing the link to serious health complications like poor diet quality, obesity, and type II diabetes.

So who consumes the most sugar drinks? It doesn’t come as a surprise that teens and young adults consume more sugar drinks than any other age group. Perhaps more surprising is that over half of sugar drinks are consumed in the home, not in fast-food restaurants. Also, people with lower incomes drink more sugar drinks, in relation to their diet, than those with higher incomes.  Is this because sugar drinks are the more economical option? Could people be consuming sugar drinks, not because of their refreshing flavorful taste, or because they disregard the recommended health guidelines, but because it is the cheapest way to buy something to quench thirst?

The answers to these questions are still a matter of debate.  For a closer look at who is consuming sugar drinks in the U.S., visit  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db71.pdf

Other links to the sugar drink controversy:

Tax on Soft Drinks? CBS News with Katie Couric:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTHHlQexB0g&feature=fvsr

Blue Cross & Blue Shield ‘Catalyst Campaign’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_ffSw-z_FE

NCHS Director Ed Sondik appears on CSPAN’s Washington Journal 09/02/2011 to discuss U.S. mortality and life expectancy.

See the following link to see Dr. Sondik on CSPAN:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SMort

One in seven adults don’t know they have certain major chronic conditions

Findings from a new report, “Hypertension, High cholesterol, and Diabetes: Racial and Ethnic Prevalence Differences in US Adults, 1999-2006” were presented at last month’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) tour for members of the Association of Health Care Journalists in Chicago, IL. NHANES is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The new NHANES data found that 45 percent of adults had at least one of three diagnosed or undiagnosed chronic conditions: hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes. The report also found the following:

• Nearly one in seven U.S. adults (15%) had one or more of these conditions undiagnosed.
• Non-Hispanic black persons were more likely than non-Hispanic white and Mexican-American persons to have at least one of the three conditions (diagnosed or undiagnosed).
• Non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white persons were more likely than Mexican-American persons to have both diagnosed or undiagnosed hypertension and hyper-cholesterolemia.
• Non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American persons were more likely than non-Hispanic white persons to have both diagnosed or undiagnosed hypertension and diabetes.

 The graph below displays the prevalence of diagnosed or undiagnosed chronic conditions by race and ethnic groups:

For more, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db36.pdf

Cigarette smoking linked to depression in adults

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2005-2008) has found that adults ages 20 and over with depression were more likely to be cigarette smokers than those without depression.  This key finding is the focus of a new report from NCHS, “Depression and Smoking in the U.S. Household Population Aged 20 and Over, 2005-2008.” This report also found the following:                        

• Women with depression had smoking rates similar to men with depression, while women without depression smoked less than men.
• Over one-half of men with depression ages 40–54 were current smokers compared with 26 percent of men without depression of the same age.
• Among women ages 40–54, of those with depression, 43 percent were smokers compared with 22 percent of those without depression.
• Among adult smokers, those with depression smoked more heavily than those without depression. They were more likely to smoke their first cigarette within 5 minutes of awakening and to smoke more than one pack of cigarettes per day.
• Adults with depression were less likely to quit smoking than those without depression.

The graph below shows the percentage of adult smokers with depression from 2005-2008:

 For more, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db34.pdf

Teen birth rates drop after two-year increase

A new report from NCHS, “Births: Preliminary Data for 2008,” found that the teen birth rate in the U.S. fell 2 percent between 2007 and 2008, after rising the previous two years. In 2008, the birth rate declined for all age groups under 20 years, except for the youngest teenagers ages 10-14, which remained unchanged at 0.6 births per 1,000 females. The report also found the following:

•  The birth rate for U.S. teenagers ages 15-19 fell 2 percent in 2008 to 41.5 per 1,000, reversing a brief two-year increase that had halted the long-term decline from 1991 to 2005.
•  The birth rate for unmarried women declined about 2 percent to 52.0 per 1,000 aged 15-44. This was the first decline since 2001 and 2002. However, the number and percentage of births to unmarried women each increased to historic levels. The preliminary number of U.S. births in 2008 was 4,251,095, down nearly 2 percent from 2007.
• The estimated total fertility rate in 2008 was 2,085.5 births per 1,000 women, 2 percent lower than the rate in 2007.
• The cesarean delivery rate rose to 32.3 percent in 2008, the twelfth consecutive year of increase. Increases were seen among women of all age groups, and most race and ethnic groups.

Below is a graph showing the birth rate trends for teens from 1980-2008:

For more,visit:  

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_16.pdf

More Physicians Switch to Electronic Medical Record Use

The recent report “Electronic Medical Record Use by Office-based Physicians and Their Practices: United States, 2007” presents new information from the 2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey regarding the growing use of electronic medical records systems by office-based physicians as well as their plans to install new electronic medical record systems within the next 3 years.

Results showed that in 2007 34.8 percent of office-based physicians reported using any electronic medical record system, which represented a 19.2 percent increase since 2006 and a 91.2 percent increase since 2001. A few other findings include the following:

• Physicians in practices with 11 or more physicians were most likely to use either all electronic or partially electronic (part paper and part electronic) systems (74.3 percent), whereas physicians in solo practice were least likely to use electronic medical records systems (20.6 percent).
• Electronic medical record use was higher among physicians in multi-specialty practices (52.5 percent) than in solo or single-specialty practices (30.3 percent).

 The graph below displays electronic medical record use trends from 2001-2007:

For more information, visit the report at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr023.pdf

Cesarean delivery – more popular than ever before

A report released yesterday from the National Center for Health Statistics showed that the cesarean rate rose by 53% from 1996 to 2007, reaching 32%, the highest rate ever reported in the United States. The 1.4 million cesarean births in 2007 represented about one-third of all births in the United States.

Although clear clinical indications often exist for a cesarean delivery, the short- and long-term benefits and risks for both mother and infant have been the subject of intense debate for over 25 years. Despite this, the rate continues to rise for women in all racial and ethnic groups, as well as for women of every age, as shown below.

For more from this recent release, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db35.pdf.

Who will be drinking on St. Patty’s Day?

Who will have whiskey in the jar on one of the most popular drinking days of the year? Well, on average,  men are more likely than women to be current drinkers (68% compared with 55%). Men are also more likely to be moderate (22%) or heavy drinkers (6%) than women (7% and 4%, respectively). Youth also contributes to heavier drinking:

Other indicators:

• White men and women are more likely to be current drinkers than other races, and non-Hispanic adults are more likely than Hispanic adults to be drinkers.
• Current drinkers increase with education from 44% for adults with less than a high school diploma to 74% for adults with a graduate degree.
• The prevalence of current drinking increases dramatically with family income.

For more, visit the new report on adult health behaviors at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_245.pdf.