Adolescents with medical illness

Abstract

Ensuring that pregnancies are anticipated and intended is particularly important for young women with medical illness. Many chronic diseases heighten the risk for adverse obstetrical and birth outcomes, while pregnancy may also exacerbate illness severity. This chapter covers contraceptive management in illnesses that are either commonly encountered among adolescents and young women or that are of such medical significance that they have great clinical and social impact on a young woman's daily life, particularly in the setting of pregnancy. We provide an overview of the adolescent and young adult epidemiology of and recommended and contraindicated contraceptive methods for the following illnesses: asthma, history of bariatric surgery, cardiac anomalies, cystic fibrosis, deep vein thrombosis risk factors, diabetes, depression, disordered eating, epilepsy, headache disease (including tension and migraine), hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease, liver disease, sickle cell disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and von Willebrand disease.