Obstetric Outcome of Teenage Pregnancy in Kano, North-Western Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Teenage pregnancies are regarded as high risk, because they often occur outside marriage. There is the need to evaluate the outcome of teenage pregnancies in a predominantly Islamic society like Kano where most occur within marriage, and timely prenatal care is usually available to most of them. OBJECTIVE: To review the obstetric outcome of teenage primigravida in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. METHODS: A retrospective case-control study of 500 booked teenage primigravidae, who delivered in our labour ward from January 2002 to December 2005 (study group) was performed. Their obstetric outcome was compared with that of an equal number of booked primigravidae aged 20–34 years, who met the recruitment criteria and delivered immediately after a selected teenage mother (control group). The study variables of interest were the demographic characteristics of the women in the two groups, antenatal/intrapartum complications and neonatal outcome. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the mean birth weight, mean gestational age at delivery, mean height and perinatal mortality between the two groups, but mean maternal weight and body mass index (BMI) were higher among the older women. The teenage mothers had increased incidence of preterm labour and low birth weight infants (P < 0.05). The incidence of caesarean section and instrumental deliveries were lower among the teenage mothers. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that teenage mothers who receive good family and community support, timely quality antenatal care and deliver in the hospital, should expect similar obstetric outcome to that of their older peers.