Teenage pregnancies and their obstetric outcomes

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the obstetric performance of teenage women in India. In total, 13,210 women were included in the study, of whom 840 were teenagers (<19 years) and 12,370 were > or =20 years. Antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum events were recorded and comparative analysis was done. We found that teenage women were at a significantly higher risk for development of severe anaemia (relative risk [RR] 1.61, P value <0.02), eclampsia (RR 1.95, P value <0.05), preterm labour (RR 1.25, P value <0.001), intrauterine growth retardation (RR 2.29, P value <0.001) and low birth weight (RR 1.24, P value <0.001). Assisted delivery (11.78% versus 2.23%, P value <0.001) was significantly more common and caesarean delivery (9.64% versus 17.18%, P value <0.001) was significantly less common in teenagers. Moderate anaemia, mild pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia, premature rupture of membranes, antepartum haemorrhage and post dates were all significantly higher in > or =20 years group. To conclude, we found that teenage women are a high-risk group, which is aggravated by social and cultural factors. Special attention is required to educate these women for more positive outcomes.