[Contraception in adolescents included in a family planning program]. / Anticoncepción en adolescentes incluidas en un programa de planificación familiar.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the motives of consultation, kinds of contraceptive methods and side-effects of oral contraceptives (OCs) in adolescent users of a family planning program. DESIGN: Family planning program at the District Primary Care Unit, Cádiz, Spain. PATIENTS: 283 adolescent females who requested attendance in a family planning program from January 1993 until January 1994. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A medical history of every adolescent was carried out and every patient was examined. Those who were recommended the use of OCs passed through 3 controls: at the beginning, after the 6th month and after 1 year. These controls consisted in recording sexual risk behaviours as well as several analytic tests. RESULTS: Most adolescents requested the prescription of contraceptive methods (81.7% of the most prescribed and demanded methods were OCs). We found no serious side-effects after 1 year, so we can conclude that OCs are an usefull contraceptive choice for sexually active adolescents because of its security, acceptance and easy use.

[Anthropometric assessment of the nutritional status of the adolescent population of Cádiz (Spain)]. / Valoración antropométrica del estado nutricional en una población adolescente de Cádiz.

OBJECTIVE: The results of a series of anthropometrical values of nutritional nature, which were used to determine corporal composition, are presented. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The samples were taken from schools in the city of Cádiz. A total of 945 young people between the ages of 10 and 17 years were used. In each case, tricipital skinfold thickness, Quetelet's index, brachial fat area and brachial adipose muscular quotient were determined. RESULTS: A comparison of the values we obtain with those of national studies showed our figures to be higher. CONCLUSIONS: The figures given for our adolescent population are intended to serve as a reference point for use in nutritional studies in this geographical area.

[The USFAM Study: the prevalence of allergic diseases in the school-age population of the province of Cádiz. I. Ubrique, San Fernando, Algeciras and Medina Sidonia]. / Estudio USFAM: prevalencia de las enfermedades alérgicas en la población escolar de la provincia de Cádiz. Parte I.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of allergic diseases in the school population of the province of Cádiz in order to confirm the hypothesis that these diseases are more frequent there than in the rest of the Spanish provinces. Four cities of our province were chosen (Ubrique, San Fernando, Algeciras and Medina Sidonia, whose initials form the acrostic USFAM) with clear differential characteristics (climatological, orographical, environmental, etc). In each city, schools, both public and private, were chosen at random. Complete classes were used, and the age-limit was that established in each school. A questionnaire was given to all of the parents who, together with the teachers, were given instructions for its completion. Of the 4,000 questionnaires distributed, 2,572 were correctly completed. Of these, 1,988 answered that their child was non-allergic and 584 as allergic (22.7%). The ratio male/female was almost 2/1 (64.4%/35.6%) and the largest prevalence of these allergic diseases was in the group of children between 10 and 13 years of age. We have found that the prevalence of this pathology in the province of Cádiz is higher than the national mean.

[Allergic conjunctivitis. Treatment and course]. / Conjuntivitis alérgica. Tratamiento y evolución.

A group of 74 patients with allergic conjunctivitis from the out patient service of allergy of the Hospital Pediátrico Provincial Docente José Luis Miranda, in Santa Clara, were studied. In this study are stressed the importance of the search for etiologic agents influencing the disease and the used diagnostic methods. Finally, the used treatments are pointed out. The most frequent were the strepto-staphylo-gamma vaccines, preventive measures, antibiotic drops, environmental measures and sodium cromoglycate drops. Treatment was dynamic, individual and associated with the ophthalmology and pediatric allergy specialties.