ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) may differ from their healthy peers in respect to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) knowledge and contraceptive use.

Objectives: We aimed to explore sexual knowledge and contraceptive use and associated factors in T1D adolescents compared to healthy peers.

Methods: Fifty-eight T1D adolescents (mean±SD age 16.3±2.0 years, disease duration 6.7±3.5 years, HbA1c:8.0±1.3%) were compared to 116 healthy controls (matching 1:2 for age, school and gender). Anonymous questionnaires were used to evaluate sexual knowledge and contraceptive methods.

Results: The most frequently used contraceptive method among our study population at the last sexual contact was the condom (T1D:71.4%, controls:73.1%), withdrawal was reported by 33.3% of T1D adolescents and 24% controls, no protection by 23.5% patients and by 10.2% controls, while double protection (≥2 methods) was reported by 35% patients and 27.7% controls. The birth pill was only reported by 11.8% patients and by 8.3% controls. Among patients, the high protection (dual protection) group was characterized by younger age (16.5 vs 17.0 years, P = 0.023) and older age at first intercourse (16.4 vs 15.8 years, P = 0.010, respectively). The low protection group (no contraception/withdrawal) was characterized by older patients’ age (17.0 vs 16.5 yrs, P = 0.023) and younger paternal age (41.0 vs 51.9 yrs, P = 0.046). Among controls, the use of dual protection was more common in the group whose parents were married versus those with divorced parents (34.3% vs. 10%, P = 0.042).

Conclusion: Among the study population, the commonest contraceptive method for both groups was the condom, and the less frequently used method was the birth pill, while 23.5% patients and 10.2% controls used no protection. The degree of contraception use among patients was associated with age and parental age and with the family situation in controls. The above underline the importance of early counselling of adolescents on contraception by health practitioners.