Nearly 20 percent of American teens who give birth have already had one or more babies, a federal study by the Center for Disease Control released Tuesday says.
In 2010, more than 365,000 teens aged 15 to 19 gave birth and about 67,000 (18.3 percent) of those were repeat births, according to the April Vital Signs report.
Repeat births among teens decreased by more than 6 percent between 2007 and 2010, but the number of repeat births remains high, according to the study.
Some teens gave birth to a third, fourth, fifth, or sixth child before age 20. (About 13 percent of repeat births were third pregnancies, and 2 percent were fourth or more pregnancies.)
In 2010, repeat teen births were highest among American Indian/Alaska Natives, Hispanics and blacks, ranging from 20-44%. They were lowest among whites, but just under 15%.
Nearly 91 percent of sexually active teen moms said they used some sort of contraception after they had a baby, but just 20 percent used the most effective method of birth control (an intrauterine device or implant), the report says. However, A recent study found that some doctors have misperceptions about which teens can use IUDs and implants (any sexually active teen girl can be a candidate).
The CDC said more needs to be done to educate young moms on how to prevent repeat pregnancies. The health agency also said longer-term birth control, such as hormonal implants, may be better than the pill, which is taken daily.
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