Family, personal, and social factors associated with the non-use of contraceptive methods during the first sexual experience in adolescent women.

Unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in adolescents continue to be major health problems around the world. They are associated with sex that occurs without contraceptive protection. We determined the relationship of family, personal, and social factors with the non-use of any contraceptive method during the first sexual experience in 1409 adolescent women. The most significant risk factors were being less than 15 years of age and lacking knowledge and awareness about contraceptive methods. In the family environment, the risk factors were living in an incomplete family and the existence of a poor relationship among the father, the mother, and the adolescents. Socialization with friends who became sexually active at an early age was also associated with having sex for the first time without protection. This information should be used in sexual and reproductive education programmes to prevent unplanned pregnancy and STIs in adolescent women.

[Pidotimod in recurring respiratory infection in children with allergic rhinitis, asthma, or both conditions]. / Pidotimod en infección respiratoria recurrente en el niño con rinitis alérgica, asma o ambos padecimientos.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate a decrease in the number of recurrent breathing infections in patients with allergic rhinitis and asthma, by means of the use of Pidotimod (a immunomodulator). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients of both sexes, 2 to 16 years old, that had at least four episodes of acute respiratory infection, during the previous six months, administering a dose of 400 mg of pidotimod later, twice a day. RESULTS: It was identified a correlation between the number of cases of asthma and those of acute respiratory infection of r = 0.60 with a r2 = 40. A total of 73 patients of both sexes that presented allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma, had developed at least four acute respiratory infection episodes. Form these patients, 33 were male, a rate that corresponded to 45%, and 40 were female, that corresponded to 55% of population. The average age was 6 years old, with a range from 2 to 16 years. The number of infectious events before using Pidotimod, was 422, with an average of 5.7 for patient, and later to its use, it was 295, that corresponded to 4.04 for each patient, in 6 months. The difference among the means was significant (p < 0.005). The number of days affected by each infectious event was of 446, with an average of 6.10 for patient, and later to administration of the product it was of 308 affected days, that corresponded to an average of 4.21 days for each patient, with a statistical significant of p < 0.001.