Introduction: “Stay Teen-Stay Free” has been the slogan of numerous governmental programmes for the well being of the Teenagers but with little success and outcome. Teenage pregnancy is a global problem and is considered a high-risk group, in spite of conflicting evidence. There are many studies regarding teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortions, and family planning among teenagers, but very little is known about the fetomaternal outcomes and complications associated with these high risk prenancies.
Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the feto-maternal outcomes and complications in teenage (15-19 years) pregnancies as compared to those who were aged between 20-24 years.
Materials and Methods: This is a rural based retrolective comparative study carried out in a tertiary care centre in Gujarat, India.All teenage pregnancies documented between August 2012 to July 2014 were studied and compared to 20-24 years aged controls. Descriptive statistical analysis was done.
Also, a pilot study through focussed group discussions, was carried out in a nearby village in Gujarat to identify the high risk factors and behaviours in married teenage females who had conceived atleast once.
Results: A large number of teenage pregnancies were unbooked as compared to controls. Also, Antenatal complications like anemia, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, oligohydroamnios were significantly more in teenagers as compared to those in adults.Percentage of teenagers having undergone Lower Segment Caesarean Section (LSCS) were higher as compared to controls.
Fetal complications like Low Birth weight babies and babies requiring NICU admission were also higher amongst teenagers.
In Our Pilot Study we found that School dropout rate was significantly higher in Pregnant Teens. Moreover, getting married and pregnant wasn’t their decision. Most of the pregnancies were unplanned and that they had very little knowledge of contraception.
Conclusion: Low socio-economic status, limited education, low school attianment, young age at first conception, cultural factors and extended family structure all appeared to be related to teenage pregnancy.
Since teenage pregnancy is a multifaceted problem, it demands multidimensional solutions. Hence, more awareness should be created and various programmes should be taken up, to safeguard the rights and health concerns of teenagers. Teenage pregnancy is still a rampant and important public-health problem in India with unfavourable perinatal outcomes and needs to be tackled on a priority basis.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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