Contacts:
Before and after meeting:
Liz Leake, Public Affairs
The Hospital for Sick Children
416-813-5046 or 504-670-8508
[email protected]
May 1 - 5:
Jennifer Donovan, PAS Press Room; 504-670-8502 or 504-670-8503
Pregnancy prevalent in Toronto's street youth
TORONTO-- Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children have determined that pregnancy is common among Toronto's female street youth and that risk of pregnancy is significantly associated with length of time on the street and the age at which the youth enter street life. The researchers also discovered that less than one third of street youth who deliver babies care for their children.
The research was carried out by Dr. Sheri Findlay, a fellow in the Hospital's Division of Adolescent Medicine. Her findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, May 1 - 5 at the New Orleans Convention Center.
With a population of 2.4 million, Toronto is Canada's largest city and the eighth largest city in North America. The street youth population is estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000. For Dr. Findlay's study, street youth were defined as being under 25 years of age, described themselves as "being involved in street life", and lived on the street or in a shelter for greater than one week or had no fixed address for greater than one month.
"There has been little focus on the unique health care needs of street youth," explains Dr. Findlay. "While pregnancy among youth in general has been well documented, pregnancy among street youth has never been systematically studied. High risk health behaviors in this population, such as substance abuse, unprotected sex, and violence are common and we would anticipate pregnancy to be common and outcome to be poor."
The study involved 93 female youth who visited a downtown Toronto health clinic for street youth in the summer of 1997. Information gathered included age, living arrangements, number of pregnancies and pregnancy outcome.
The ages of the youth ranged from 15 to 24 years and the average age at first pregnancy was 16.7 years. The 93 youth reported 118 pregnancies. Of those pregnancies, 32 percent ended in spontaneous abortion, 22 percent in elective abortion, 34 percent delivered, and 12 percent were pregnant at the time of the study. The mean length of time from street entry to first pregnancy was 2.2 years. There were 35 living children of street youth identified in the patient population. Mothers had custody of their child in only 31 percent of cases, 23 percent had contact with their child but not custody, and 46 percent had no contact with their child.
"These results suggest that pregnancy among street youth is very common but the outcomes are poor," explains Dr. Findlay. "Prospective studies are needed to fully understand the scope and outcome of pregnancy in this very high risk population."
The Hospital for Sick Children is Canada's foremost pediatric academic health sciences center. The Pediatric Academic Societies include the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association.
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Contacts:
Before and after meeting:
May 1 - 5: Liz Leake, Public Affairs
The Hospital for Sick Children
416-813-5046; [email protected]
Jennifer Donovan, PAS Press Room
504-670-8502 or 504-670-8503 or 504-670-8508
Further information about The Hospital for Sick Children is available on our website: www.sickkids.on.ca
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