Prevalence of Smoking and Oral Contraception in a Sample of Danish Young Women
- 1 March 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine
- Vol. 19 (1), 44-46
- https://doi.org/10.1177/140349489101900108
Abstract
A representative sample of 286 Danish females aged 16-20 years were interviewed during the period April 1984 - February 1985. The response rate was 75%. Both use of oral contraception (OC) and smoking were common; 46.6% used OC, 34.2% smoked and 19.6% combined smoking and OC. The prevalence of smoking was significantly higher (42.0%) among OC-users than among nonusers (27.2%). The combination of smoking and OC was especially prevalent among young women with sexual debut before 16 years (36.8%). The association between smoking and the use of OC was significant both when tested unstratified (p < 0.05) and stratified by age at sexual debut (p < 0.01). Smoking was also associated with early debut of intercourse (p < 0.001). It has been reported that the combination of these two factors in adult women increase the risk for cardiovascular mortality. However, the health consequences later in life of combining smoking and OC at young ages have not been illuminated in the literature. These findings indicate the necessity for prospective studies of young women.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Cardiovascular risk status and oral contraceptive use: United States, 1976–1980Preventive Medicine, 1986
- The association between smoking and sexual behavior among teens in US contraceptive clinics.American Journal of Public Health, 1984
- Contraception and pregnancy among young women in an urban Swedish populationContraception, 1982
- Epidemiology of secondary amenorrheaAmerican Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1973