Obese adolescent women who are sexually active are less likely to use contraception than their healthy weight counterparts, according to a new study.
Adolescent pregnancy has been associated with a number of health implications, including miscarriage and stillbirth. Likewise, obese pregnant women are at risk of health consequences like blood clots, diabetes, high blood pressure and birth-related injuries.
Researchers at the University of Michigan set out to investigate the relationship between body weight and the risk of unintended pregnancy among teenage girls.
For the study, the researchers recruited 900 women aged 18-19 and analysed 26,545 weekly journal surveys over the course of a year.
The surveys measured the sexual practices of the participants, including the number of sexual partners, use of contraceptives and average length of relationships.
The weight of each participant was recorded at the start of the study by research staff in a face-to-face interview.
It was found that there was no difference in the number of sexual partners, frequency of sex and length of relationships between obese women and those of a healthy weight.
However, participants who were obese were less likely to use contraception during weeks where they had sex than their normal weight peers.
What's more, in instances where obese women used contraception, they only used it consistently for 68 per cent of the weeks involving sex, compared to 78 per cent for normal weight women.
Tammy Chang, lead researcher of the study, said: 'Reducing adolescent pregnancy is a national public health priority and we need to understand which adolescents are at higher risk of pregnancy.
'Our findings suggest that obesity may be an important factor associated with adolescent women's sexual behaviour.
'...By understanding the barriers that put certain groups of teens at higher risk of unintended pregnancies, clinicians and researchers can tailor interventions to empower adolescents to make healthier sexual choices.'
The study has been published in the Journal of Pediatrics.