Young teen pregnancies have the highest risk of poor outcomes, study finds

A study completed by the University of Maryland School of Medicine is the first to discover girls who fall pregnant at 13 or below risk high pregnancy complications. 

Published yesterday, researchers from the university found young girls are more likely to experience preterm births, caesarean delivery and admission to the intensive care unit compared to older pregnant teens. 

Experts in the US examined more than 900,000 delivery records for pregnant pre-teens, teenagers and young women aged 10-19.

Katherine Goodman, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health at UMSOM said: ‘We found 10- to 13-year-olds had a 56% higher risk of preterm delivery and a 32% higher risk of caesarean delivery compared to those ages 14 to 17.’

As well as looking at age, the researchers also considered other factors which may have led to pregnancy complications in young girls. Experts considered girls’ race, ethnicity, type of insurance and obesity status.  

However, researchers still discovered the youngest girls had significantly increased risks compared to teens aged 14-17.  

Overall, researchers involved in the study found almost 68,000 of young pregnancies occurred between the age of 18-19 and teenage pregnancies in 14–17-year-olds, totalled almost 23,000 compared to 206 in girls aged 10-13.

The study team also discovered adolescents aged between 10-13 experienced three-times higher admission rates to the ICU than those aged 14-19, however the data examined on ICU admissions is preliminary and findings warrant confirmation in future investigations.

Professor Goodman said: ‘These complicated birth outcomes matter. They can have lifelong consequences for both mother and child.

‘Mothers who deliver preterm have a greater likelihood of developing hypertension and mental health problems, including postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Children born preterm have a greater risk of neurodevelopmental and respiratory problems.’

Mark Gladwin, Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Maryland also added: ‘Thankfully, pregnancy in very young girls remains rare in the U.S., but even one pregnancy in a preteen is too many.

‘The racial and ethnic disparities remain stark and point to a pressing health need that we as a nation must address to close the healthcare inequity gap.’

The study has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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