Population Council, New Delhi, India.
Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Oct;23(5):334-9. doi: 10.1097/GCO.0b013e32834a93d2.
To review current evidence on the links between early marriage and health-related outcomes for young women and their children.
Every third young woman in the developing countries excluding China continues to marry as a child, that is before age 18. Recent studies reiterate the adverse health consequences of early marriage among young women and their children even after a host of confounding factors are controlled. The current evidence is conclusive with regard to many indicators: unintended pregnancy, pregnancy-related complications, preterm delivery, delivery of low birth weight babies, fetal mortality and violence within marriage. However, findings present a mixed picture with regard to many other indicators, the risk of HIV and the risk of neonatal, infant and early childhood mortality, for example.
The findings call for further examination of the health consequences of early marriage. What are even less clear are the pathways through which the associations between early marriage and adverse outcomes take place. There is a need for research that traces these links. At the same time, findings argue strongly for programmatic measures that delay marriage and recognize the special vulnerabilities of married adolescent girls.
综述早婚与年轻女性及其子女健康相关结局之间关联的现有证据。
在不包括中国的发展中国家，每三个年轻女性中就有一个在儿童期结婚，即在 18 岁之前。最近的研究表明，即使在控制了一系列混杂因素后，早婚仍会对年轻女性及其子女的健康造成不良后果。目前的证据在许多指标方面是明确的，例如非意愿妊娠、妊娠相关并发症、早产、低出生体重儿、胎儿死亡和婚内暴力。然而，在许多其他指标方面，研究结果则呈现出混合的情况，例如艾滋病毒感染风险、新生儿、婴儿和幼儿死亡率的风险。
这些发现呼吁进一步研究早婚对健康的影响。甚至不太清楚的是早婚与不良结局之间关联的发生途径。需要进行研究来追踪这些关联。同时，这些发现强烈支持推迟婚姻的方案措施，并认识到已婚未成年少女的特殊脆弱性。
