Family Practice, Vol 15, 336-342, Copyright © 1998 by World Organization of Family Doctors
MC Lee, LA Suhng, TH Lu and MC Chou
BACKGROUND: It is well-known that pregnancy in adolescence has an increased
risk of adverse reproductive outcomes. It remains unclear whether this
association is due mainly to the unfavourable sociodemographic status or
due solely to biological immaturity of pregnant adolescents. OBJECTIVE: The
purpose of this study was to determine the association of parental
sociodemographic characteristics with the adverse outcomes of adolescent
pregnancy. METHOD: Data from certificates of live births in Taichung
County, Taiwan in 1994 of 7994 singleton, first-born babies whose mothers
were 15-34 years of age were analysed. The relative risk of having adverse
pregnancy outcomes for adolescent subgroups was obtained as compared with
that among mothers 20-34 years of age with the same characteristics. The
adjusted relative risk of having adverse pregnancy outcomes for each
covariate was calculated by a multiple logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS: Of 7994 babies born to mothers of 15-34 years of age, 8.3% were
born to adolescent mothers. In all age groups, the younger adolescent
mothers (15-17 years of age) had the highest percentage of both infants
with low birth weight (10.6%) and preterm births (7.1 %). Younger
adolescent mothers in almost all sociodemographic categories had higher
risks of having both low-birth-weight and preterm births than those of
older adolescent mothers. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that
a younger maternal age is the only significant risk factor for having
infants with low birth weight (adjusted RR = 2.5, 95% Cl 1.8-4.5 and
adjusted RR = 1.7, 95% Cl 1.2-2.6 for younger and older adolescent mothers,
respectively) or preterm birth (adjusted RR = 1.9, 95% Cl 1.1- 3.4 and
adjusted RR = 1.5, 95% Cl 1.0-2.3 for younger and older adolescent mothers,
respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent pregnancy carries an increased risk
of having low-birth-weight and preterm births, and a younger maternal age
is causally implicated.
ORIGINAL CLINICAL RESEARCH
Association of parental characteristics with adverse outcomes of adolescent pregnancy
Department of Family Medicine, Chung Shan Medical & Dental College Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
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