Background: Teenage pregnancy is an important public health problem as it often occurs in the context of poor social support and maternal well being. It is considered a high risk for both the mother and infant. Several researchers...
moreBackground: Teenage pregnancy is an important public health problem as it often occurs in the context of poor social support
and maternal well being. It is considered a high risk for both the mother and infant. Several researchers reported that pregnancy
among adolescents is associated with maternal complications, premature birth, low birth weight, perinatal mortality and increased infant mortality. Aim of the work: The aims of this study was to determine whether teenage pregnancy is associated with
increased rates of adverse perinatal outcome and to compare obstetric outcome of teenage with middle aged pregnancy. Patients and Methods: a descriptive comparative study that compares the outcomes of the teenage pregnancy with that of adult pregnancy. A specially designed questionnaire was prepared for this purpose. Subjects were divided in to two groups according to their age at the time of the delivery: The teenage group (study group) includes women with the age of 19 years or less at the time of delivery (total of 1248 females were included in this group), and older group (control group) includes women aged more than 19 years at the time of delivery (A total of 245 females were included in this group). Maternal, obstetric, fetal, and neonatal complications were compared between the two groups.Results: Regarding the complications rate, there was a significant lower risk among middle aged females compared to teenagesapart from hypertension, ectopic pregnancy and antepartum hemorrhage, which showed non-significant differences. Comparison between the two groups showed significant differences in mode of delivery, ICU need and hospital stay, while the presentation showed non-significant difference. Preterm labor was significantly higher among teenage mothers. Also, birth weight was lower in group 1. There was significant difference between the two groups regarding the risk for congenital anomalies or stillbirth. 32 cases out of the 1248 cases (2.6%) of the teenages and 3 cases out of 245 (1.2%) in the middle age group, died during labor. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding APGAR score at birth Conclusion: healthcare providers should be aware that teenage pregnancies are high-risk pregnancies and inform pregnant teenage women about that risk and advice them for strict antenatal care. Teenage parturient women are more
susceptible to preeclampsia, pre-term labor, and their babies have lower birth weight.
