“Feto - Maternal Outcome in Teenage Pregnancy - A Comparative Case Control Study”

Introduction: Teenage pregnancy is a concern from the obstetric and socialeconomical point of views. This study aims to examine it in such a perspective. Aims and Objective: To study the epidemiological aspects and clinical feto-maternal outcome of Teenage pregnancy. Materials and Methods: A Tertiary hospital based prospective case control study with 70 cases and 70 controls, investigated on socio demographic profile and fetomaternal outcome. Result: Of the 4098 total confinements during the study period, incidence of teenage pregnancy was 2.81 %. The overall incidence of complications was 30%. Statistically significant occurrence (P<0.05) of preterm births (17.1%), severe PIH (17.1%) and severe anaemia (11.4%) amongst the mothers and low birth weight (77.2%) and prematurity amongst the neonates was noted. Perinatal mortality was 8.6%. The incidences of caesarean sections were statistically higher in the cases (22.9%). The teenage mothers were mostly from low socio economic strata, had poor compliance with antenatal care and poor knowledge, attitude and practice regarding reproductive health. Conclusions: Teenage pregnancies constitute a risk factor for poor obstetric outcome. Teenage mothers are more likely to develop preterm births, severe PIH, severe anaemia and their neonates low birth weight and prematurity. Cultural practices, poor socioeconomic conditions, low literacy rate and lack of awareness of the risks are some of the main contributory factors. Appropriate preventive strategies need to be taken at various levels to circumvent the problem.