Objective: To determine the prevalence of teenage pregnancy and compare their obstetric and perinatal outcomes with non-teenage pregnancies.
Method: Records of teenage pregnant women aged between 11-19 from National Obstetric Registry, Malaysia (NOR) of Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar Seremban over a 12 month period between May 2015 and May 2016 were selected (n=164). For each pregnant woman, socio-demographic profile, obstetric outcomes and perinatal outcomes were determined. The results were compared with a control group comprised of 169 pregnant women aged 20-30 years, who also delivered in Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar Seremban in the same period.
Results: The prevalence of teenage pregnancy was 2.8%. The mean age of the teenage group was 17.98 whereas the control group was 26.42. The study showed that teenage mothers had a significantly higher risk of anemia (p=0.005), episiotomy (p<0.0001), preterm labour (p=0.001) and delivering low birth weight babies (p=0.001). There were no significant differences in mode of delivery, antenatal complications, birth outcomes, APGAR score at 5th minutes and neonatal complications between the two groups.
Conclusion: Teenage pregnancy was correlated with increased risks of anemia, episiotomy, preterm labour and delivering low birth weight babies.
Keywords: Teenage pregnancies, prevalence, obstetric outcomes, perinatal outcomes