Amber Tufail, Haleema A Hashmi.
Maternal and perinatal outcome in teenage Pregnancy in a community based hospital.
Pak J Surg Jan ;24(2):130-4.

Objective: To determine the frequency of teenage pregnancy and its associated maternal and perinatal outcome in a community based hospital. Design & Duration: Prospective cross sectional study carried out from January to October 2006. Setting: Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Fatima Hospital, Baqai Medical University, Karachi. Subjects: One hundred and fifty pregnant women. Methodology: The women were divided into two groups; Group-A comprised of 75 young females aged less than 19 years, while Group-B comprised of 75 women aged 20-30 years, which was used as a control. A comparison was done between the two groups regarding maternal and perinatal outcome. Observations were recorded using a pre- designed research proforma. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS package for windows version 12.0. Results were compared using Chi-square test by keeping the p-value of <0.05 as significant. Results: The frequency of births amongst teenagers (Group-A) was 11.09%. Women belonging to Group-A had a lower gestational age at delivery than Group-B (36.81±3.21 vs. 37.32±1.80 weeks) and a higher preterm delivery rate (17.3% vs. 5.3%, p-value 0.02). The incidence of anaemia (46.6% vs. 20%), urinary tract infection (40% vs. 20%, p-value 0.008), pre-eclampsia (16% vs. 1.6%, p-value 0.001) and intra-uterine growth retardation (5.3% vs. 0%, p-value 0.043) was more in Group-A as compared to Group-B. Caesarean section was the major route of delivery in Group-A (34.6% vs. 10.6%. More neonates in Group-A were low for birth weight (32% vs. 12%, p-value 0.003), and were prone to more morbidities in early neonatal life (20% vs. 4%, p-value 0.003) necessitating admission to the neonatal care unit. Conclusion: Teenage pregnancy is associated with increased risk to the mother like anemia, urinary tract infection, pregnancy induced hypertension and operative delivery. There are also increased risks of low birth weight, intra-uterine growth retardation, prematurity and admission to the neonatal intensive care units.

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