Sexual behavior of Lithuanian high school students.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sexual behavior of Lithuanian high school students. STUDY DESIGN: School-based anonymous self-administered survey of high school students, conducted from February to June 2017. RESULTS: Of 167 invited schools, 113 (67.7%) agreed to participate in the survey with a response rate of 75% among invited students (8143/10,811). Respondents' median age was 18 (range 16-20) years. Nearly one-third of students (31.3%) reported sexual intercourse with a median age at coitarche of 17 years. Most (82.9%) used contraception at coitarche. Contraception at coitarche was more common among those who were sober at coitarche (aOR 2.2, 95% CI 1.5-3.2). Students whose parents had discussed sex with them were more likely to plan coitarche (aOR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.5). Students searching for information about sexual life more often had their coitarche sober than those not searching for information (29.7% (n = 60) vs 21.1% (n = 497, p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Every fifth high school student reported contraceptive nonuse; however, only 6% indicated the use of reliable dual contraception during the first sexual intercourse. IMPLICATIONS: Efforts are needed to improve the sexual education offered to Lithuanian adolescents to ensure the many sexually active adolescents are aware of how to protect themselves from infection and undesired pregnancy.

Pre-existingmental health disorders affect pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: a retrospectivecohort study.

BACKGROUND: This was a hospital registry-based retrospective age-matched cohort study that aimed to compare pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of women with pre-existing mental disorders with those of mentally healthy women. METHODS: A matched cohort retrospective study was carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kauno Klinikos, a tertiary health care institution. Medical records of pregnant women who gave birth from 2006 to 2015 were used. The study group was comprised of 131 pregnant women with mental disorders matched to 228 mentally healthy controls. The primary outcomes assessed were antenatal care characteristics; secondary outcomes were neonatal complications. RESULTS: Pregnant women with pre-existing mental health disorders were significantly more likely to have low education, be unmarried and unemployed, have a disability that led to lower working capacity, smoke more frequently, have chronic concomitant diseases, attend fewer antenatal visits, gain less weight, be hospitalized during pregnancy, spend more time in hospital during the postpartum period, and were less likely to breastfeed their newborns. The newborns of women with pre-existing mental disorders were small for gestational age (SGA) more often than those of healthy controls (12.9% vs. 7.6%, p < 0.05). No difference was found comparing the methods of delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Women with pre-existing mental health disorders had a worse course of pregnancy. Mental illness increased the risk to deliver a SGA newborn (RR 2.055, 95% CI 1.081-3.908).

Clinical and Microbiological Findings of Vulvovaginitis in Prepubertal Girls.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate genital microbiological findings in prepubertal girls with vulvovaginitis and in healthy controls. DESIGN: Prospective case-control study. SETTING: Pediatric Outpatient unit of the Department of Pediatrics of the Hospital of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kauno Klinikos from November 2014 to May 2017. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-two prepubertal girls aged 1-9 years diagnosed with vulvovaginitis, and 42 age-matched healthy controls. INTERVENTIONS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Samples for microbiological culture were collected using sterile cotton swabs from the introitus and the lower third of the vagina from all study participants. Microbiological findings were analyzed according to bacteria type and intensity of growth. RESULTS: Most of the vaginal microbiological swab results were positive for bacterial growth: 47 (90.4%) and 34 (80.9%) were similar in the study and control groups, respectively (P = .24). Sixteen (30.8%) and 9 (21.4%) of the microbiological traits results in the case and control groups, respectively, were regarded as potential causative agents (P = .27). Streptococcus pyogenes was the most frequent pathogen in the study group (P = .03); all other microorganisms detected as either a pure or dominant growth in the control group, were considered opportunistic. CONCLUSIONS: Vaginal bacterial culture results were positive in prepubertal girls with vulvovaginitis and in healthy controls. Nonspecific vulvovaginitis without a dominant/isolated pathogen was seen to be more common than vulvovaginitis with a potential causative agent. Clinical symptoms were more frequent among girls when the potential infectious agent was identified.