High school girls who use the most effective methods of birth control are less likely to also use condoms, making them vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), researchers say.
Girls who use intrauterine devices and implants to prevent pregnancies are less likely to use condoms than their peers taking birth control pills, they found, NBC News reported.
"The findings highlight a need for strategies to increase condom use among all users of highly and moderately effective contraceptive methods ... to prevent STIs," Riley Steiner of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta wrote in an email to Reuters Health.
Intrauterine devices (IUDs) and hormone implants are highly effective at reducing unintended pregnancies, the researchers write in JAMA Pediatrics. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says such long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) should be first-line birth control options for teenagers.
