Adolescent pregnancies: Maternal and fetal results

Purpose: The term adolescent describes transition from childhood to maturity and World Health Organization indicates that adolescence is between ages of 10 and 19. Adolescent pregnancies create very important health problem in both developed and developing countries in the world. In terms of maternal and fetal problems, pregnant adolescents are in high risk pregnancy category. In our study, we aimed to compare obstetrics and neonatal results of adolescent and non-adolescent pregnancies in our hospital.Instrument and Method: Pregnancy and birth records of both under 19 year old and over 19 year old pregnants, who gave single and alive birth over 20 months at the same period and were refered to our hospital between 10.01.2008 and 01.08.2011, were retrospectively examined. Demographic characteristics of groups (age, gravida, parity, having a civil marriage with the spouse, kinship with the spouse), obstetrics results (birth gestational age, type of delivery, birth weight, Apgar scores at 1. and 5. minutes, presence of anemia) and obstetrics complications (preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, oligohydramnios, gestational diabetes, macrosomia, placental abnormalities, fetal distress) are compared. For the statistical significance of results, p value was <0,05.Findings: There were 80 participants in the adolescent group and 102 participants in the non-adolescent group. The mean age was 16,68±0,883 for adolescent group and 29,09±5,929 for non-adolescant group (p<0,05). The average number of pregnancies was 1,20±0,461for women in adolescent group and 2.49±1.627 for women in non-adolescent group (p<0,05). The average number of births was 0,09±0,284 for women in adolescent group and 1,25±1,431 for women in non-adolescent group (p<0,05). There was no civil marriage between spouses for 42 (%52,5) women in adolescent group and 6 (%5,9) women in non-adolescent group (p<0,05). When adolecent and non-adolescent groups are compared in terms of kinship of spouses, results yielded that 18 (%22,5) women in adolescent group and 10 (%9,8) women in non-adolescent group are relatives with their spouses ( p< 0,05). In the study, adolescent women gave live birth in an average of 36,55±3,456 pregnancy week and non-adolescent women gave live birth in an average of 37,37±3,073 pregnancy week (p<0,05). While 31 (%38.8) adolescent women delivered at caesarean section, 58 (%56.9) non-adolescent women delivered at caesarean section (p<0,05). There were no statistically significant difference for birth weight of babies of adolescents and non-adolescent (2796,69±812,345 gr, 2892,60±747,800 gr, p=0,717), first minute average apgar scores (6,96±2,292, 7,43±1,656, p=0,480), and fifth minute average apgar scores (8,41±2, 8,71±1,390,p=0,223). High significance was found for adolescent group compared to non-adolescent group for preterm birth (%37,5 (30/80), %21,6 (22/102)), pre-eclampsia (%31,3 (25/80), %14,7 (15/102)), intrauterine growth restriction (%20 (16/80), %9,8 (10/102), p=0,050) fetal distress (%20 (16/80), %8,8 9/102), congenital anomaly (%16,3 (13/80), %5,9 6/102), and anemia (%40 (32/80),%12,7 (13/102)) (p<0,05). There was no significant difference detected between adolescent and non-adolescent group for placental abnormalities (%1,3 (1/80),%2,9 (3/102),p=0,440), oligohydramnios (%18,8 (15/80),%9,8 (10/102), p=0,082), gestational diabetes (%5 (4/80),%9,8 (10/102), p=0,227), and macrosomia (%6,3 (5/80), %4,9 (5/102),p=0,692).Result: The significant rates of preterm birth, pre-eclampsia, fetal distress, and congenital anomaly among adolescent pregnancies manifest that maternal, perinatal morbidity, and mortality risks are increasing for those pregnants. Health workers dealing with maternal and child health need to be aware of ways to prevent adolescent pregnancies, and be alert of antenatal monitoring and risks of those pregnants in case adolescent pregnancy occurs.Key words: Adolescent pregnancy, fetal results, maternal results