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Health Status Report
DuPage County, Illinois |
DuPage County
Health Department |
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Teen Births in DuPage County, Illinois
Healthy People 2010
Healthy People 2010 is the nationwide public health agenda. It provides a
roadmap for health promotion
and disease prevention to improve the health of all the people in the United
States. The two overarching goals - increase quality and years of healthy life –
eliminate health disparities - are supported by 28 focus areas. The issue of
teen births and pregnancy fall within the Family Planning focus area (Section
9). The Family Planning focus area goal is to improve pregnancy planning and
spacing and prevent unintended pregnancy. 7
The Healthy People (HP) 2010 Objective 9-7, is reduce pregnancies among
adolescent females. This is
an appropriate National impact objective related to teen births. HP 2010
established a specific target rate
for females aged 15 to 17. Based on the 1996 baseline of 68 pregnancies per
1,000 females, the HP 2010 target is 43 pregnancies per 1,000 females aged 15 to
17. 8
If this target were used for DuPage County teens, aged 15 to 19 for example,
there would be an estimated 2,629 pregnancies (based on a 2000 target population
of 61,139 teens aged 15 to 19). This may not be an appropriate teen pregnancy
target for DuPage County, given that we do not have a current teen pregnancy
rate baseline, and that our actual teen birth rates are already well below state
and national levels.
Most teen pregnancies are among 18 and 19 year olds. Setting an appropriate
target for 15 to 17 year olds, or 18 to 19 year olds would require more
extensive analysis and community input.
The other HP 2010 objective worth mentioning is 9-9 – Increase the proportion of
adolescents (aged 15 to 17) who have never engaged in sexual intercourse. For
males and females the HP 2010 target for Objective 9-9 is 75 percent
(adolescents engaged in sexual intercourse). The 1995 U.S. baseline is 62
percent for females and 57 percent for males. According to the 1999 Youth Risk
Behavior Survey for Illinois (excluding Chicago), 51.4 percent of females aged
16 or 17, and 52.2 percent of males aged 16 or 17 never engaged
in sexual intercourse. For ages 15 and under, 76.8 percent of females and 73.1
percent of males never engaged in sexual intercourse. 9
HP 2010 objectives are useful for planning community initiatives and Health
Department programs. Local measures and data tracking mechanisms need to be
developed for these objectives to be used effectively. Developing appropriate
targets for HP 2010 objectives at the local level is a core public health
function.
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1 Darroch JE, Singh S, and Frost
JF, Differences in Teenage Pregnancy Rates Among Five Developed Countries: The
Roles of Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use, Family Planning Perspectives,
2001, 33(6):244-250 & 281
2 Ventura, SJ, Mathews, TJ, and Curtin, SC. Declines in Teenage Birth
Rates, 1991-98: Update of National and State Trends. National Vital Statistics
Report 47(26), 1999.
3 Ventura, SJ, Mathews, TJ, and Hamilton, BE. Births to Teenagers in
the United States, 1940-2000. National Vital Statistics Report 49(10) 2001.
4 Ventura, SJ, Mathews, TJ, and Hamilton, BE. Teenage Births in the
United States: State Trends, 1991-2000, an Update. National Vital Statistics
Report 50(19) 2002.
5 Ventura, SJ, Mathews, TJ, and Hamilton, BE. Births to Teenagers in
the United States, 1940-2000. National Vital Statistics Report 49(10) 2001.
6 Ventura, SJ, Mathews, TJ, and Hamilton, BE. Births to Teenagers in
the United States, 1940-2000. National Vital Statistics Report 49(10) 2001.
7 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People
HP2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for
Improving Health. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November
2000. 2(9).
8 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People
HP2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for
Improving Health. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November
2000. 2(9).
9 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People
HP2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for
Improving Health. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November
2000. 2(9)
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