Salud reproductiva en adolescentes escolares: conocimientos, actitudes y conductas en ambos sexos en una comuna de Santiago de Chile / Reproductive health in school adolescents: knowledge, actitud and behaviour in both sexs in a community at Santiago de Chile

Nine hundred forty eight teenagers (600 female) from a public school of the poorest communities of Santiago were surveyed about knowledge and practice on sexuality and reproductive health. Twenty four percent of females and 40 percent of males did not talk about their problems at home, instead they talked preferentially with their friends. Half of the sample attributed a risk of pregnancy to the first sexual intercourse; 67 percent did not know the infertile phase of the menstrual cycle and 20 percent did not identify 2 sexually transmitted diseases. Sixty percent considered rhyth technique as a safe fertility control method, 60 percent of males and 50 percent females considered masturbation as risk, 57 percent of males and 49 percent of females estimated that condoms could be reused and between 5 and 16 percent of the sample correctly identified AIDS modes of transmission. Fifty percent had a couple and 23 percent of males and 17 percent of females had a sexual intercourse in the last six months; of these, 45 percent of women and 27 percent of men used a contraceptive method. Four percent of women and 6 percent of men became involved in a pregnancy and 57 percent of these terminated in abortions. It is concluded that knowledge about sexuallity and reproductive biology among low income teenagers is scanty

Autoestima, percepción de la afectividad, metas y conductas de riesgo, en escolares adolescentes de ambos sexos / Self esteem, affectivity perception, aims and risk behaviors in school adolescents of both sex

A self applied and anomymous enquiry was answered by 948 teenagers (600 female), participating in an integral helath education plan and coming from a school located in a low income community of Metropolitan Santiago. Twenty nine percent came from a school located in a low income community of Metropolitan Santiago. Twenty nine percent came from single or foster parent families and 18,4 per cent of parents were separeted. nineteen percent of women and 9.8 per cent of men felt that they were not loved by their parents; 30.5 per cent of women classified as bad or regular their relationship with their fathers and 22.1 per cent of men similarly classified their relationship with their mothers. 18 per cent of men and 16,5 per cent of women ignored their parents educational level. 10 to 24 per cent had a negative self image and 50 per cent were unsure about their study goals. 48 per cent of men and 25.5 per cent of women had get drunk; 24.1 and 12.8 per cent had smoked marihuana. Half of the sample manifested attraction to dangerous situations; 22 per cent had participated in quarrels and 34 per cent had attacked other people. 23 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women had considered commiting suicide. It is concluded that the lack of affection, a deteriorated self image, difficult parenteral relationships and orientation toward violence appear as the main problems in this sample of teenagers

Período intergenésico prolongado: ¿ factor de alto riesgo ? / Prolonged intergenesic period: high risk factor ?

Se efectúa un estudio prospectivo en 115 embarazadas con período intergenésico (PIG) de 7 años o más, y se compara con igual número de pacientes con PIG menor a dicha edad. De estas pacientes, 86 (74,8%) no presentan patología y 29 (25,2%) sí lo hacen. Estos grupos se dividen, a su vez, en dos categorías, de 35 años y más y menores. No se encontraron diferencias en la forma de inicio del parto, vía de éste, forma de rotura de membranas, duración del trabajo de parto y expulsivo entres ambos grupos, independientes de la edad materna. Los resultados perinatales son semejantes, excepto un menor peso promedio en los hijos de madres con PIG prolongado. Las pacientes con patología fueron manejadas según ésta, independientes de su PIG. Se concluye que sólo deben manejarse como de alto riesgo las pacientes con PIG prolongado, si además presentan patología asociada, y que pacientes con PIG prolongado, independientes de su duración, tienen elevadas posibilidades de éxito en parto vaginal en ausencia de patología