Perinatal complications associated with teenage pregnancy at the Teaching Hospital in Honduras: A case-control study

Abstract

Background. Worldwide, each year approximately 16 million adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 and 2 million adolescents under 15 years of age are pregnant. This population group is the one that faces the greatest risks during pregnancy, with higher rates of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. There are no recent studies on the subject in the country. Aim. To determine the complications associated with adolescent pregnancies in the Maternal and Child Hospital in a period from 2019 to 2023. Methods. Observational-analytic study of cases and controls, the non-probabilistic sampling was 200 case patients and 200 control patients. Spearman, U of Man Whitney, Kruskall Wallis and T of Wilcoxon were used for the descriptive analysis. Results. 92% of adolescents (cases) were primiparous. Being an adolescent represented twice the risk of prepartum anemia (OR 2.02 95% CI 1.83-2.23 p value <0.05), increased risk of preterm delivery (OR 1.66 95% CI 1.03-2.68 p value <0.05) and an increase in grade III and IV perineal tears (OR 1.78 95% CI 1.34-2.35 p value <0.05). However, adolescence was shown to be a protective factor for cesarean section (OR 0.48 95% CI 0.28-0.82 p value <0.01). In addition, there was no increase in the number of congenital malformations or APGAR scores less than 7 at 5 minutes after birth (OR 0.40 95% CI 0.13-1.16 p-value >0.05). Conclusions/recommendations. Given adolescence as a risk factor for maternal-neonatal complications, adequate prenatal control and monitoring of these patients throughout their pregnancy is recommended.