Journal of Women's Health Care
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0420
+44-7360-538437
ISSN: 2167-0420
+44-7360-538437
Aiste Ugianskiene, Susanne Ledertoug, Pia Murrekilde and Pinar Bor
Objective: The aim of our study was to investigate whether Danish teenage pregnancies were associated with increased risks of adverse maternal, obstetrical and neonatal outcomes.
Study design: A retrospective case control study. All nulliparous singleton pregnant teenagers ≤ 19 years (n=134) and randomly selected nulliparous women (n=268) aged 20-39 with singleton pregnancy, who gave birth at the Regional Hospital of Randers from 2008 to 2012 were included. Statistical comparisons by independent t-test were applied to continuous data, while Chi-square test was used to examine for differences in frequency data. We calculated Odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence intervals (CI) and p values <0.05 was considered significant.
Results: The prevalence of teenage pregnancy in our study was 1.8%. Smoking during pregnancy was significantly higher among pregnant teenagers (46%) versus non-teenagers (9%). There was a significantly higher prevalence of spontaneous vaginal delivery in teenage pregnancies (81%) compared to controls (65%). The prevalence of caesarean section was significantly lower in the study group (6.7%) than in the control group (19%). Third and fourth degree perineal tears and postpartum hemorrhage were significantly less in the study group than in the control group (0.8% vs 6.4% and 16% vs 25.4% respectively). There was no statistically significant association between teenage pregnancies and increased rates of antenatal complications including, preeclampsia, eclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus. There was no statistical significant difference of the neonatal outcomes; LBW, Apgar score and arterial cord pH between groups.
Conclusion: Teenage pregnancies in our setting seem not to be associated with increased risks of adverse maternal, obstetrical and neonatal outcomes. This is probably due to high-quality maternity and neonatal care that is available for teenage pregnancies in Denmark.