Sexual behaviour and contraceptive practices of year 10 schoolgirls in inner metropolitan Sydney.

PIP: 308 female students from six State high schools in inner metropolitan Sydney responded to self-administered questionnaires on their sex behavior and contraceptive use. Respondents were in their tenth year of school and of mean age 15.6 years. The survey was conducted with no refusals over the period March-June 1991 upon the sample from four coed and two single-sex schools. 18% of the sample reported ever having sexual intercourse, although substantial interschool variation was observed; less than 5% of girls in one school with a predominantly non-English speaking population were sexually experienced, while almost 45% were experienced in another school with a predominantly Anglo-Saxon population. The mean age at first intercourse for the sexually active group was 14.5 years. 72% used condoms at first intercourse, while 17% used no form of contraception. There were no significant differences in the mean ages of sexually active and nonactive girls, nor between the percentage of sexually active girls in coed schools and in single-sex schools. 25 girls had ever had a total of one sex partner, 27 had 2-5, and two had more than five. The condom is the most commonly used form of contraception, with 38% of sexually active girls using condoms every time. The rest of the girls used them either occasionally or not at all. Oral contraceptive pills (OCP) were used by less than 15% of the sexually active group, with effective contraception overall used by only 43% of the group. Effective contraception is defined as either condom use during every act of sexual intercourse during the preceding six months or daily compliance with the OCP. Eight subjects used no contraception at all during the preceding six months. These findings indicate the need for more education targeted to adolescents and health professionals, especially general practitioners.^ieng

Nutritional status on admission to a general surgical ward in a Sydney hospital.

To assess the nutritional status of patients on admission to a general surgical ward in a major teaching hospital in Sydney, we examined 84 men and women. We measured, recorded, and/or calculated: history of weight loss, body mass index (BMI), triceps skinfold, arm muscle circumference, hemoglobin, total lymphocyte count, and plasma albumin level. Measurements were graded normal, borderline, or abnormal and patients were considered malnourished if they had two or more abnormal measurements, three or more borderline measurements, or one abnormal and two borderline measurements. Thirty-one patients (37%) were found to have one or more measurements below the reference range. Twelve patients (14%) were considered malnourished and of this group more than half were of normal weight or overweight. But if indices of overnutrition are included in a definition of malnutrition then a high BMI was the most common abnormal index of nutritional status. Forty-six patients (55%) had a BMI of greater than 25, that is, were overweight. This single study showed a higher percentage of overnutrition amongst hospital patients than previous work has indicated and secondly that malnourished patients are not necessarily underweight.