Outcome of adolescent pregnancy at a university hospital in Jordan.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether adolescent pregnancies are associated with increased risk of adverse obstetrical outcome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a retrospective study comparing the obstetric outcome of 267 adolescent pregnancies to 500 adult women pregnancies during the same period at a university hospital.

RESULTS

Medical and obstetric complications including pregnancy-induced hypertension, diabetes mellitus, anemia, placenta praevia, abruptio placenta and multiple pregnancy were not different in both groups, where there was a significant increase of preterm labor in adolescent pregnancies compared to adult pregnancies (14.6 and 8%, respectively). Moreover, adolescent pregnancies when compared to adult pregnancies, were associated with a significantly higher incidence of forceps delivery (4.5 and 1.4%, respectively), neonatal intensive care unit admission (22.7 and 13.5%, respectively) and a lower incidence of caesarean section (7.1 and 16.8%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Adolescent pregnancies are associated with a favorable obstetric outcome apart from the higher incidence of preterm labor.