Read on for Planned Parenthood's monthly roundup of recent research related to sexual health and sexuality.

Abstinence-Only Education Fails Again
According to a long-awaited government-funded study,abstinence-only programs do little to delay the onset of sexual activity or reduce the number of sex partners for teens.  At the behest of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., tracked more than 2,000 young people and found that the age of first sex — 14.9 years — was the same for teens who underwent one to three years of abstinence-only sex education classes as it was for those who did not.  The findings once again call into question the many millions of dollars poured into abstinence-only education by the federal government. 

Gonorrhea is a common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI), second only in prevalence to chlamydia. Left untreated, it can cause serious health concerns for both women and men.

The Emotional Side of Safer Sex
Teens who feel confident about condom use are more likely to use condoms, according to a study published in the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community.  Researchers studied nearly 225 young people, aged 13 to 18, and found that, even in the face of dramatic emotions like anger or depression, teens who had confidence about using condoms were more likely to use them correctly and consistently, compared to teens who felt ambivalent or anxious about their ability to use condoms.  Researchers suggest that learning to manage emotions may be a key component to educating teens about safer sex.  The study author, Celia Lescano, said, “We found that adolescents need help feeling more comfortable and less distressed about discussing and using condoms.”

The Latest on Hormone Therapy
In the past five years, there has been much alarm and confusion about the relationship between hormone therapy (HT) and breast cancer.  A recent addition to the growing body of research on the subject comes from a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, which suggests that the decline in breast cancer rates may be due to a sharp decrease in the use of HT.  Following the 2002 release of the Women’s Health Initiative study, which linked combined hormone HT to an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, and stroke, prescriptions for the two most common HT medications dropped by 40 million over three years.  The rate of new breast cancer cases fell over a similar period of time.  According to experts, the findings suggest an association between the two trends that may or may not prove causal. Further study is needed to truly understand the relationship between HT and breast cancer.  For women who are suffering from the symptoms of menopause, HT may still be considered a good treatment option, but the risks and benefits should be discussed with a health care provider.

A separate study, published in the Lancet, suggests hat women who used HT were 20 percent more likely to die from ovarian cancer than those who did not.

Another Benefit of Breastfeeding
Previous studies have linked “delayed” childbirth to an increased risk of breast cancer, but a recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting suggests that breastfeeding may lower that risk.  While the average age for first childbirth in the U.S. is now 25, many women are choosing to delay childbirth until their 30s and beyond.  Researchers found that, regardless of the age of first childbirth, breastfeeding seems to have a protective affect against breast cancer — among its many other benefits to mother and child.

Second-Trimester Abortions
With the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to ban certain abortion procedures during the second trimester, even when such procedures are the safest for a woman’s health, understanding the reasons why some women have second-trimesters abortion has become ever more important. 

A recent British study — one of the first of its kind, according to researchers — found that more than one-third of women seeking a second trimester abortion in the United Kingdom did so because they were unaware that they were pregnant.  This was particularly true for women with irregular periods or those who became pregnant while using some form of regular contraception.  

In the U.K., as in the U.S. and elsewhere, the vast majority of abortions occur in the first trimester.  In the British study, one in 10 abortions occurred in the second trimester.   Of the 883 women in the study who had second trimester abortions, most waited because they were unaware of the pregnancy.  Forty-one percent waited because they were unsure of their decision, and 21 percent said that interpersonal issues with their partner caused a delay.  Practical delays also played a role — more than 60 percent of the women who had second-trimester abortions reported some sort of delay between requesting an abortion and having the procedure, sometimes up to three weeks.

The Other Risks of Testicular Cancer
Testicular cancer, detected and treated early, is highly curable, but researchers from Norway suggest that those who survive may face other risks in the future, in a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.   Researchers studied the records of nearly 40,000 testicular cancer survivors from North America and Europe and found an increased risk of death from other non-cancer causes, such as infection or heart disease.  For men who were diagnosed with testicular cancer before 35, the risk of death was 23 percent higher than normal.  Experts suggest that health care providers help testicular cancer survivors adopt healthy lifestyles that will circumvent these future ailments.

Cracking Down on Cervical Cancer
With the advent of Gardasil, the vaccine that can protect against two strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV) that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, there is hope that this generation or the next will see the end of cervical cancer — but barriers remain.  

A recent study published in Reproductive Health found that, in Mexico, where cervical cancer is a leading cause of death among women of working age, women avoid cervical cancer screening — Pap tests — for cultural reasons that include guilt, shame about their bodies, and ignorance about the disease.  The study suggests that raising awareness about the disease and changing these notions among women, men, and their families are necessary parts of tackling the cervical cancer rates.

However, Dutch researchers suggest that there may be a way to increase the rate of Pap tests —allowing women to do the test in the comfort of their own homes.  According to a report in the International Journal of Cancer, more than 2,500 Dutch women who had skipped cervical cancer screening were mailed an easy-to-use at-home testing kit, while a control group was sent a notice to go to a health care center for testing.  Researchers found that nearly twice as many women responded to the self-testing kit as those who went to a clinic for testing — which suggests that women find at-home testing an acceptable option.  Costs for at-home and clinic testing are comparable.