Abstract

CALERO, Jorge Luis; VAZQUEZ, Juan Carlos  and  DOMINGUEZ, Emma. Sexually transmitted diseases from the know-how of adolescent athletes. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2013, vol.39, suppl.1, pp. 881-892. ISSN 0864-3466.

Introduction: sexually transmitted diseases present high rates of prevalence and incidence in people younger than 24 years and are very frequent in sexually active adolescents. Objectives: to determine the sexual behaviors and the level of information on signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted infections in adolescent athletes of both sexes. Methods: a descriptive study was conducted including a probabilistic survey to 177 adolescent athletes of both sexes to collect data. The questionnaire responses were analyzed with the help of SPSS software 11.5, and descriptive statistics in addition to the ji-square test to determine the level of association among variables. Results: in the study group, 91.3 % had had sexual intercourses at a mean age at onset of 14.5 ± 1.3 years. The males were - statistically - more likely to have several sexual couples. The percentage of use of condom was higher as more time elapsed from sexual initiation to the most recent sexual intercourses. Recognition of the signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases was very low. Conclusions: despite the fact that the adolescent athletes refer to protect themselves more at present, their low level of information about the signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases and their adverse effects make them vulnerable to the contagion with these diseases, mainly the male athletes.

Keywords : sexual behaviours; recognition of signs and symptoms; sexually transmitted infection; adolescence.

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