Adolescents with chronic medical problems are just as at-risk for unintended pregnancy as their healthy counterparts, but pregnancy in these adolescents can carry greater health risks. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the United States Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, the concept of contraceptive effectiveness, and a risk-benefit algorithm. Together these tools provide an evidence-based and clinically sound method of providing contraception to adolescents with chronic medical problems. Three cases of adolescents with chronic medical problems are used to illustrate this approach. To best avoid the complicated problem of a teenager with a chronic medical problem becoming pregnant, LARC should be considered as first-line contraception. In most cases, LARC methods are safe to prescribe, and preferable to less effective methods.
Copyright © 2012 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.