1 in 4 Teen Girls Has STD
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just issued the alarming findings of its first ever survey of teen health which included sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In the study, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 838 randomly chosen girls, ranging in age from 14 to 19, completed the survey, which was conducted in 2003 and 2004. As part of the survey, the girls agreed to answer questions dealing with health and nutritional issues and they agreed to be tested for four of the most common STDs.
The survey results were then formulated to reflect the rate of incidence of STDs in the general female teen population.
The study group was tested for chlamydia, herpes simplex type 2, human papillomavirus (HPV), and trichomoniasis, which is a common parasite.
HPV, found in 18% of study respondents, was the most commonly occurring STD, followed by chlamydia (4%). Fifteen percent of the study group had more than one disease.
Almost half of the survey respondents who are of African-American descent tested positive for at least one of these STDs. Twenty percent of the white respondents tested positive. These numbers represent 3.2 million teenage girls in the general population.
STDs can have painful symptoms which lead to lifelong health complications, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and cancer.
The CDC recommends STD screening annually for all sexually active females under the age of 25. It also recommends HPV vaccinations for all females aged 11 to 26.
Speaking on behalf of the CDC’s STD prevention division, Dr. John M. Douglas, Jr., identifies a clear need to continue the development of screening, prevention, and vaccination programs for teens at risk.
- Do these statistics surprise you?
- Is 838 subjects representative of the general teen population?
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Honestly, I thought the number would be higher among teens, closer to a 40 or 50%
This is an over inflated estimate. Just trying to scare people just like the WHO inflated their figures
How 838 teen girls represent all teen girls in the general population accurately enough to say “1 in 4 teen girls has STD” is beyond me. I would bet that most of these girls surveyed came from urban areas too. I couldn’t find this study on the CDC website either.
So if they tested teen boys, it’d probably be even higher considering males generally have more sex partners than women- especially at that age. I don’t think this number is over-inflated at all considering it covers more than one STD, and 1 in 5 adults has genital herpes itself.
I hate statistics, they seem to tell you something based on a small group of subjects and want you to believe that it is representative of the entire population!
By the way, JOSH, I’m not surprised you didn’t find it on CDC, it’s always like that with these gov’t sites, try FDA website after some major drug is approved, you won’t find it until a few days later, but all the private news sites will have them instantly! I happen to rely on drug news at my job, and one of the best sources for, say, drug approval news is: yahoo finance
The survey was done in 2003-2004, seems a bit old… It could be worse now or it could be better.
There are lies, damn lies and then there is statistics!
Doesn’t sound reliable at all either.
I hated statistics at school and I hate them now!!
How random can the selection be when they claim almost half are of African-American descent? Sounds like another form of descrimantion to me. As for the accuracy, if the study can claim random selection and come up with this bias I wouldn’t put trust in the rest of the outcome either.
I really cant believe this without knowing more about their “random” sample. If they randomly chose people in the west they would get a different statistic than people in the midwest. Where one town might only have a rate of 15%, there are some places where it could be up to 90%. Not to mention that less than a few thousand people isn’t much of a survey anyways.
Rich- It said half of those tested who were african american tested positive, not half of those tested were african american.
They didn’t say that half of the participants were African-American, they said half of the African-American participants in the study had STDs. And if it’s done correctly, a proper sampling of a population will be representative of the whole. But generally, that’s why you need multiple studies on a topic before drawing conclusions, because a single study might have been flawed. The more studies show the same result, the more you can trust the outcome.
its like twice that number at my school. lmfao skanks.
i got a 14 year old daughter who has seven (7) very close girl friends. …now based on this statistics 2 of them should have STD…duh!
They are a group of bright, wonderful girls (straight A’s, active in extra curricular/community service activies)…when i showed this article to my daughter…she found it sickening that this statistic generalize them into such category.
i am very sure i am not the only parent who has daughters like mine…this is a very flawed study…
I’m surprised some commenters here are judgmental. Instead of thinking these girls and young women are “skanks” or are somehow not representative of your own “straight-A” children, why not simply take your daughter or son to the clinic to get her or him tested? Regardless of what the results show, it’s a good way to show your children that you care about them enough to show thema) ways that they can protect themselves from disease (you have made sure they know how to use a condom, right?), as well as b) ways to confirm that they are disease-free (or to quickly resolve any problems they might not even know they have).
I suppose I’d rather be happy with grandchildren, many years in the future, than afraid to guard my daughter’s or son’s reproductive health today.
I think it’s too early to say that is a flawed study until we can actually get our hands on it and go over the numbers, which I would be interested in doing.
Speaking to Lily, I would probably not expect 2 of the seven friends to have an STD, as that’s incredibly unlikely. The purpose of a study like this is to show a nationally representative sample - not to say that one in every four in every community has an STD. There are issues of economic status and race that you have to take into account.
On a separate note, I also would like to see the statistics relating to teen males (I’m sure that, based on this, I won’t be surprised).
The largest methodological problem is that the Human Papillomavirus is not usually considered an STD. Although it is spread through sex it is in fact a grouping of many different viruses most of which are benign.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus
As I am reading these comments, its quite scary to find that most readers don’t properly understand statistics, and because they got fooled once or twice because of the lack of understanding in basic statistics, they deny all statistical analyses.
The study being flawed or not is not the point. 1 out of 4 or 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 50 is still to much. 1 out of 4 parents that I know will not deal with the fact that there teenager is sexually active.
Amazingly, teenagers who practice abstinence don’t have this problem. Isn’t it interesting that that rarely ever is given as an option?
the sample size is quite enough to make generalization. it does not talk about the details; however, I believe that they have used the scientific random sampling procedure. 1 out of 4 girls means if you randomly choose 4 girls, it is highly likely that 1 of the four will have STD. Statistics talks about probability; not certainty. The details are not provided; because they are technical and they dont get people’s attention.
I agree with the math teacher above. You guys don’t obviously don’t understand statistics. These numbers should scare you.
In order to get this “random sampling” the researchers must have posted a notice somewhere asking for volunteers. Perhaps it should read “25% of women who volunteered to take the test”.
I thought it would be higher figure of disease rates, because illegal activities, for example, adult sex with minors, prostitution, guys not wanting to wear a wetsuit, even if kills them….and the girl who needs to prove her love to her man.
But, you know what….maybe the real figure is higher.
Just remember folks, dead people can’t have sex. Wear a wetsuit.
New study by the CDC saying 1 in 4 girls in America between the age of 14-19 has an STD.
I found another article that says that this means that just over 3 million girls have an STD. Meaning that this survey of 838 girls was suppose to represent 12 million girls. Before running off and giving your girls a shot of the Merrick vaccine, here are some things to consider.
The survey was conducted by the CDC. Centers for Disease Control.
First do the figures sound exaggerated?
Where did they find the girls? Where the girls compensated? If the girls were going for some kind of Birth Control or exam, then this means that they were already having sex, or thinking of it, and then are they an accurate sampling of teenage American girls?
[quote]
Researchers analysed data from a nationally representative sample of 838 US girls aged 14 to 19.
[/quote]
So 838 girls of unknown racial, religious, socio-economic, educational, backgrounds are suppose to represent 12 million American girls ages 14-19. Why am I not convinced?
[quote]It found that nearly half of the African-American girls surveyed had at least one STD, while the rate was 20% among white and Mexican-American teenagers. [/quote]
It says that half of the African-American girls surveyed had at least one STD. This tell me nothing. How many African American girls were surveyed? 10 800? If your sample is too high or too low a percentage of one group, you will get figures that are inaccurate either way. Eg. If they interviewed just 10 African American girls and 5 had an STD then the figures would be correct for the survey, but generally wrong for the larger American population.
Also in America if you are bi-racial and have 1 drop of black blood, in many cases you are still required to consider yourself as African-American. Don’t tell me that did not throw off the figures.
Great so a survey that is suppose to represent 12 million American girls only surveyed African-American girls, white girls, and not even Latina girls, but only Mexican-American girls.
So what happened to Asian girls, Latina girls that are not Mexican-American, South East Asian Indian, Native American, etc. We are suppose to use this sampling to represent all American girls, but not all American girls were sampled?
[quote]Human papillomavirus, or HPV, affected 18% of the girls surveyed, chlamydia 4%, trichomoniasis 2.5%, and herpes simplex virus 2%.
[/quote]
So if we took out HPV, which I do believe is what is at the heart of this survey and the Merrick agenda to have all girls vaccinated with their STD vaccine, then we have 8.5% with an STD.
[quote]he CDC is recommending annual chlamydia screening for all sexually active women under 25, and HPV vaccines for girls aged 11 to 12, followed by booster injections. [/quote]
I think this is what is at the heart of this survey, and I really think it’s a shame that it seems that the CDC is going to be used to push this Merrick agenda on young girls, but also on some populations more than others, as usual. The drug also may not be fully safe according to the aritcle below.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54713
If the CDC can provide the correct demographics that they used, socio-ecomocic status, religious, etc, that would be a good start. Was there compensation involved?
Without these facts and figures can we truly believe that this was an accurate sampling, and that these figures are truly representative of all American girls between the ages of 14-19?
I think not considering a large demographic of the population seems to have been excluded. Asian, East Asian, Native American, Latina of a none Mexican origin, Middle Eastern etc.
I would love to see this survey done again with a larger sampling, and a using demographics that match the demographics of the American population. Again if we are only using kids that are having sex, or thinking about having sex again what kind of accurate figures will this produce?
Just because your 14 year old daughter doesn’t have an STD now, doesn’t mean nothing will happen in the next 5 years. The girls in the survey were 14 to 19, it doesn’t break down STD’s by age. Maybe *none* of the 14 and 15 year olds surveyed had anything, and 1 in 2 of the 18 and 19 year olds did, and 1 in 4 of the 16 and 17 year olds. Just an example of how the survey details might have been.
And, what the heck does abstinence ‘given as an option’ mean in this context ? Hello ? 838 randomly chosen teenage girls were tested for STD’s. ‘Random’ means whether they are abstinent or promiscuous or had just one tentative experience is not considered when chosen. That gets folded into the results, the abstinent ones would be part of the 3 in 4 girls that did not have STD’s presumably (unless they are not clear on what ‘abstinence’ means…).
I wonder who really funded this study? It is obviously aimed at generating support for Merck’s new HPV vaccine.
“[The CDC] also recommends HPV vaccinations for all females aged 11 to 26.”
This vaccine is a cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry. If the vaccine becomes mandatory, it will generate $4 billion a year for Merck (the makers of Vioxx). Serious side effects have been reported and the long term health risks are unknown.
Don’t take my work for it. Read more:
http://www.healthtruthrevealed.com/full-page.php?id=1213395302&&page=article
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/334/7605/1182%20
http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Three-Girls-Died–Others-Hospitalized–After-HPV-Vaccine-21325.aspx
[quote]HPV, found in 18% of study respondents, was the most commonly occurring STD, followed by chlamydia (4%). Fifteen percent of the study group had more than one disease.[/quote]
The interesting thing is that of the 838 girls about 150 had HPV. What I just found out is that HPV under some conditions can be transmitted not sexually, and that it can be passed on en utero, what is not clear is how many cases are passed on en utero and if all these cases are discovered in a few years, or if it can be latent up and into the teen years. I will do more reading, but I am wondering if the CDC factored any of this into their results.
Again I know it says radom sampling, but if the ramdom sampling included 10 African-American females and then half had an STD, can we really use that stat to say that it’s truly representative of all African-American girls ages 14-19. I really don’t think so.
I would also like to know how they randomly contacted the girls, if they were compansated, and even though ramdom, I would like to know more about their socio-economic status. I would love to see this survey conducted using a wider sample, and done by someone not trying to push the Merrick STD vaccine agenda. Not to say that the CDC is doing this, but I would like to see more surveys done on this issue.
I wrote about this on http://www.plnewsforum.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/30389/P0/. You can follow the links there and see why this is a flawed study that is not representative of the general population. There is an agenda behind this media blitz.
This is (understandably) all over the health blogosphere.
I am also concerned about the sample size. Is 838 really enough of a sample?
Thanks for sharing. By the way, I linked to this post over at Qvisory.
838 sampled! Not enough people. To get a more accurate figure, interview about 10000. 1 in 4? Not bad. Come to Africa (southern) and you’ll see something along the lines of 7 out of 10. As for scare tactics - well, if it works, great. If not, tough. Furthermore, if the population wants to self-cull, then who can possibly stop it from happening? It’s human nature to have sex. Why? Cos it’s great!! Education is the only thing that works, provided you catch the mind at a young age. After 7yrs old, it’s too late (in Africa, at any rate).
[...] control to students as young as 11. Last spring, the Centers For Disease Control reported that 1 in 4 teenage girls in America ages 14-19 has a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). I remember how sad I was reading that. I remember mentioning it to a group of teachers the same [...]
You guys cannot refute the statistics from a test sample taken as large as this one, nearly 1,000 people is a pretty good sample and I believe these results would be similar in a sample of 100,000 even. Coming from a guy who has a lot of sex with late teens and early 20’s, seems like most had HPV and told me afterwards or something. It is very very common and can cause alot of problems. Now let me tell you the problem, most girls I know are also very ignorant when it comes to STDs (guys prolly are too, but I dont have sex with guys so I wouldnt know). Ive had alot of girls ask for me to have sex with them without a condom. And I’ve had partners who tell me they are on birth control and dont need a condom or usually dont wear one. It is this ignorance of STDs and birth control that girls and guys alike dont understand…maybe it will stop pregnancy but it will stop you from getting an STD..always use a condom with a stranger! Also..one more thing..if I hear this one more time i am gonna lose it but I will be nice. Everyone has this notion that guys have more sex partners than girls…use your logic, it is equal and always will be equal because everytime a guy has a new sex partner that girl is also having a new sex partner…duh! It will always be equal…and ppl need to understand that logic, how could men have more sex partners? IT takes a girl partner who also adds a partner when she sleeps with that guy, OMG makes me so mad that ppl dont realize that lol.