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Sexual health: key data sources

Abortions data

The abortions data are derived from information on notifications, made to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Scotland, of terminations of pregnancy under the Abortion Act 1967. It is a legal requirement for the operating practitioner responsible for the termination of pregnancy to send a completed notification form to the CMO. These notification forms are passed to ISD Scotland which is responsible for their administration, including validation, data entry and maintenance of the abortions database.

The database holds data from 1968 (the first complete year after the Abortion Act was passed) to the current year. Returns are received regularly throughout the year and, in general, ISD produces an annual National Statistics release of abortions data in the May following the reporting calendar year. Any release of unpublished data relating to terminations requires the prior approval of the CMO.

See the Abortions pages on the ISD Scotland website for further details.

Teenage pregnancy data

The teenage pregnancy data are derived from Scottish Morbidity Records (SMRs): general / acute hospital discharge episodes (SMR01) for miscarriages and terminations, and obstetric / maternity hospital records (SMR02) for deliveries. Further information on the SMR01 and SMR02 data schemes is available elsewhere on the ScotPHO website. Information on the completeness / timeliness of the SMR data schemes is available on the Managing data quality pages of the ISD Scotland website.

See the Teenage pregnancy pages on the ISD Scotland website for further details.

Sexually transmitted infections data

Data on STI diagnoses in Scotland comes from a variety of sources, including microbiological laboratories, the Sexually Transmitted Infection Surveillance System (STISS) and the Practice Team Information (PTI) system. For further information on these see Moving forward: Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, in Scotland 2005 PDF Button(4.0Mb), pages 30/31.

Further details are also available on the Sexual health pages of the ISD Scotland website.

International comparisons

International comparisons of fertility are available in the World Fertility Report 2003 from the United Nations. Significant variations in the way that sexual health data are collected in different countries make comparisons of sexually transmitted infections and abortion statistics difficult.