Lauren La Rose, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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TORONTO - Fewer Canadian teens are reporting having sexual intercourse, and the decline appears to be greater among young women than young men, according to a new study.

In 2005, 43 per cent of teens aged 15 to 19 reported having intercourse at least once, compared to 47 per cent in 1996-1997, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

The study found that the decline was due to young women, where the proportion who reported having had intercourse decreased from 51 per cent to 43 per cent.

Meanwhile, the proportion of young men who reported having intercourse remained the same at 43 per cent.

The proportion of teens who reported having had intercourse before the age of 15 also declined from 12 per cent in 1996-1997 to eight per cent in 2005.

Statistics Canada analyst Michelle Rotermann said the study did not look at motivations behind the different behaviours, so it's not clear why there are differences between young men and women.

Dr. Andre Lalonde, executive vice-president of The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, said the difference could stem from women bearing a larger degree of risk in having intercourse, and that there is a wider awareness among young women about the risks.

"The obvious risk that we always think about is pregnancy, but that's only one small risk of unprotected intercourse. They bear the burden of the risk if they have a sexually transmitted disease," Lalonde said Wednesday from Ottawa.

"In a man, it's treatable. In a woman, although we say it's treatable, it can leave consequences, such as infertility."

Lalonde said the decline among teens having intercourse appears to show progress is being made in getting the message out about safe sex. Still, he cautions the campaign to ensure young people are adequately educated about sexual health is far from over.

One such example concerned figures on condom use, which was more commonly reported among younger teens than their older peers. Some 81 per cent of 15-to 17-year-olds reported using a condom the last time they had intercourse in 2005, compared to 70 per cent of teens aged 18 and 19.

The study said previous research has shown that condom use tends to decrease with age and to be less common among users of oral contraceptives. Rotermann said research has also found there is a correlation between condom use and the duration of an individual's relationship.

"We do know from other studies ... that individuals who are in shorter-term relationships are more likely to use a condom than individuals in longer-term relationships," she said Wednesday from Ottawa.

"It's possible that youth between the ages of 18 and 19 ... are in longer-term relationships and therefore they perceive their risk for sexually transmitted disease infection to be lower, and so unfortunately they're not using a condom."

Lalonde said they have found the lack of regular use of contraception is a problem, particularly among older teens and young adults aged 20 to 29.

While there has been success in addressing the issue with younger teens, he believes those who are older and out of school may not be getting the message. Lalonde said there's a need for a national initiative to promote sexual health education, which typically falls to organizations like his as well as city public health offices.

"There's not much (spent on) publicity ... if you compare, let's say, the amount that is spent for the prevention of smoking versus prevention of STDs - it's totally disproportionate," Lalonde said. "Millions and millions are invested to prevent smoking, which it should be, but these millions are not there to prevent STDs."

The Public Health Agency of Canada said in an email Wednesday that it is concerned about the rising rates of sexually transmitted infections and is working closely with provincial and territorial partners to monitor the trend and develop and disseminate tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infections.

The agency is currently in collaboration with experts to revise the Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education which supports the development and implementation of effective sexual health education programs, and has also produced a pamphlet on sexually transmitted infections for youth.

The data for the Statistics Canada study came from the 1996-1997 National Population Health Survey and the 2003 and 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey.

Rotermann said about 4,500 respondents between the ages of 15 and 19 provided data for the 1996-1997 survey, compared to about 10,000 respondents for each of the 2003 and 2005 surveys.