Teenage pregnancies: a lingering obstetric problem in Nigeria.

Objective: To determine the teenage pregnancy rate, associated epidemiological factors, outcome and complications in a Nigerian tertiary hospital.

Design: A 5 year retrospective study of women presenting with teenage pregnancies, between 1st of January, 2004 and 31st of December, 2008 was done.

Methods: The obstetric variables from 72 cases of teenage pregnancies and 89 selected controls aged 20-24 years were compared. Chi-square was used to compare some of the variables. The level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: The prevalence of teenage pregnancy was 2.7%. The age range was from 14-19 years with a mean age of 17.8 +/- 1.2 years. 33 (45.8%) women among the study group were single while 39 (54.2%) were married. There was a statistically significant difference in the marital status between the study and control groups (x2 = 41.80, p = 0.001). Interestingly, the teenage group were mainly primiparous women (63.9%) compared to the adults who were mostly nulliparous. Ante-partum complications such as anaemia, mal-presentations and ante-partum haemorrhage were commoner in the teenage pregnancy group. Prolonged labour, preterm labour, intra-uterine growth restriction, premature rupture of fetal membranes and caesarean deliveries were commoner in the teenage group, but not to a significant level.

Conclusion: Promoting education of the girl-child and economic empowerment of teenage girls will reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy and the high complication rate associated with it.