Gould J B, Herrchen B, Pham T, Bera S, Brindis C
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Fam Plann Perspect. 1998 Jul-Aug;30(4):173-6.
Traditional methods of identifying areas in need of adolescent pregnancy prevention programs may miss small localities with high levels of adolescent childbearing.
Birthrates for 15-17-year-olds were computed for all California zip codes, and the zip codes with birthrates in the 75th percentile were identified. Panels of local experts in adolescent pregnancy reviewed these "hot spots" for accuracy and grouped them into potential project areas, based on their demographics, geography and political infrastructure.
In all, 415 zip codes exceeded the 75th-percentile cut-off point of 62.8 births per 1,000, and 210 of them differed significantly from the state average of 44.5 per 1,000 for 15-17-year-olds. While all had high adolescent birthrates, they varied greatly in racial and ethnic mix, poverty and educational attainment, and certain perinatal measures such as inadequate prenatal care and repeat pregnancy.
The use of zip code-level data holds promise for more effective program planning and intervention.
传统的确定青少年怀孕预防项目需求地区的方法可能会遗漏青少年生育率高的小区域。
计算了加利福尼亚州所有邮政编码地区15至17岁青少年的出生率，并确定了出生率处于第75百分位数的邮政编码地区。青少年怀孕问题的当地专家小组审查了这些“热点地区”的准确性，并根据其人口统计学、地理和政治基础设施将它们分组为潜在的项目区域。
总共有415个邮政编码地区超过了每1000人62.8例出生的第75百分位数临界值，其中210个地区与该州15至17岁青少年每1000人44.5例出生的平均水平有显著差异。虽然所有地区青少年出生率都很高，但它们在种族和民族构成、贫困和教育程度以及某些围产期指标（如产前护理不足和再次怀孕）方面差异很大。
使用邮政编码级别的数据有望实现更有效的项目规划和干预。
