Contraceptive Knowledge, Substance Abuse and Unintended Pregnancy among First-Year Medical Students Attending a Public University in Mexico City Mónica Beatriz Aburto-Arciniega 1 , Antonio Rafael Villa 1 , Angélica Arce-Cedeño 1 , Ricardo Antonio Escamilla-Santiago 2 , Claudia Díaz-Olavarrieta 1 , Germán Fajardo-Dolci 1 , Josefina Lira-Plascencia 3 and Rosalinda Guevara-Guzmán 1* 1 Research Division, School of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico 2 Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico 3 National Institute of Perinatology Research Division on Adolescent Health, Mexico * Corresponding author: Rosalinda Guevara-Guzmán, Research Division, School of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico, Tel: +525556232298; E-mail: rguevara@unam.mx Received date: August 28, 2018; Accepted date: August 31, 2018; Published date: September 07, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Aburto-Arciniega MB, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Study background: Mexico is currently undergoing an adolescent pregnancy epidemic, holding the first place in teen fertility rates among countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation. The country has made significant strides with national health surveys; however there is a dearth of evidence documenting the risk factors associated with adolescent pregnancy among specific groups. Objectives: This study aims to document: knowledge, current contraceptive use and sexual practices among first-year medical students attending the largest public university in Latin America. We also measured the prevalence of unintended pregnancy and substance abuse and correlated these variables. Methods: A convenience sample of 1,388 medical students (17-19 years) responded a survey on risk factors for unintended pregnancy. We carried out a survey’s internal reliability analysis. Multivariate analysis identified variables associated with unsafe sex practices and unintended pregnancy. Results: From the 1,388 students, 26.3% were men, 365/1,388 reported current sexual activity (in the last 3 months). Of 365, 100% had heard of condoms, 71% about oral contraceptives and 76.4% considered emergency contraception an abortifacient. During their first sexual encounter, 88.2% used condoms, 3.6% used emergency contraception, 1.9% coitus interrupts, 5.8% did not use any method, 0.5% “other”. 17/230 women (7.4%) became pregnant after starting their sexual life at 15 years (SD: 1.3, 3.3 mean partners, SD: 1.7). 13/17 had an abortion without specifying type and method used. Multivariate analyses showed that being sexually active, reporting current substance abuse increased the odds of unsafe sex practices and unintended pregnancy. Conclusion: Our findings are consistent with the association of unsafe sex practices, inconsistent method use and unintended pregnancy. Our unintended pregnancy prevalence of 7.4% was lower than the national prevalence. First year medical students are primed to obtain evidence based contraceptive knowledge, correlates of unintended pregnancy, unsafe sex practices and substance abuse prevention. Keywords: Medical students; Unintended pregnancy; Abortion; Contraceptive knowledge; Emergency contraception; Sexual behavior; Substance abuse; Mexico City Introduction Mexico is currently undergoing an adolescent pregnancy epidemic with fertility rates of 77 per 1,000 National Survey on Demographic Dynamics, [1] the highest of all age groups. Approximately 22 million adolescents (total population 132 million) hold the frst place in teen pregnancy among countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation [2]. A nationally representative 2012 survey National Survey on Health and Nutrition, [3] found that 90% of adolescents had some contraceptive knowledge, with condoms being the most commonly used method. Another national survey documented that over half of sexually active adolescents aged 12-19 years had been pregnant sometime and that sexually active adolescents aged 15-19, did not use any contraceptive method during their frst sexual encounter [1]. Adolescence is a life stage characterized by physical, psychological, sexual and reproductive changes and one in which the risk for unintended pregnancy increases [4]. A study from Mexico with 3,130 adolescents between 13-19 years old reported a high prevalence of 59.5% of unintended pregnancy and identifed the following risk factors: current smokers; having friends with risky health behaviors and being daughters of mothers working outside the home [5]. Studies from other countries have found an association between an early frst sexual encounter without the use of a condom; using drugs and cigarettes; having multiple sexual partners or having a prior pregnancy as risk factors for unintended pregnancy [6,7]. J o u r n a l o f H e a l t h E d u c a t i on R e s e a r c h & D e v e l o p m e n t ISSN: 2380-5439 Journal of Health Education Research & Development Aburto-Arciniega et al., J Health Educ Res Dev 2018, 6:3 DOI: 10.4172/2380-5439.1000273 Research Article Open Access J Health Educ Res Dev, an open access journal ISSN: 2380-5439 Volume 6 • Issue 3 • 1000273