Pregnancy in adolescence in Brazil: associated factors with maternal age

Abstract

Objectives: describing maternal characteristics, risk behavior, obstetric data, prenatal care and childbirth in adolescent mothers in Brazil (age groups: 12-16 years and 17-19 years). Methods: hospital-based cross-sectional study substantiated by Nascer no Brasil”, (Born in Brazil) data. The study encompassed puerperal adolescent mothers from all regions in the country, and their newborns. Chi-square test was used to compare adolescents in the 12-16 years old age group and those in the 17-19 years old age group. Results: pregnant women in the 12-16 years old age group mostly lived in the Northeast of Brazil (p=0.014); most of them did not have a partner (p<0.001), unplanned pregnancy (p<0.001), they had inadequate schooling for their age (p=0.033), had less than six prenatal consultations (p=0.021), were subjected to episiotomy (p=0.042) and accounted for the largest number of premature babies (p=0.014). Conclusions: puerperal women in the 12-16 years old age group presented vulnerability in their socioeconomic conditions, inadequate assistance at the prenatal and childbirth care, as well as their babies showed neonatal complications that pointed towards these adolescent mothers’ need of multidisciplinary care.

Adolescent pregnancies and adherence to puerperal consultation

“…The primiparity index in the sample was 34.7% and 81.8% among adolescents, results similar to those of the Nascer no Brasil study (25)(26)(27) . It is noted that an association was found between primiparity and higher adherence to puerperal return visits.…”

“…The study indicated low educational level among pregnant adolescents, similarly to data found in the Nascer no Brasil survey (25,27) . A qualitative study pointed out that 75% of adolescents interrupt schooling due to an ongoing pregnancy (28) .…”

“…A study conducted in the state of Rio Grande do Sul with puerperal women showed higher rates of smoking (53.8%) and alcohol consumption (63.3%), but a lower percentage of illegal drug use (marijuana) (3.8%) (31) . Data from the Nascer no Brasil (27) survey showed a lower rate of smoking among adolescents (8.6%) and higher alcohol consumption (11.3%) when compared to data from the present study. Other studies are required to provide further evidence about the consumption of psychoactive substances by adolescents and during pregnancy and puerperium, and about the conduct of professionals when dealing with such situations.…”

“…The disease was also reported in a nationwide study on adolescent pregnancies with a frequency of 0.9% (27) .…”

Embarazos en adolescentes y adherencia a la consulta puerperal

“…El estudio mostró baja escolaridad entre las adolescentes embarazadas, similar a los datos reportados en el estudio Nacer en Brasil (25,27) . Un estudio cualitativo mostró que el 75% de las adolescentes interrumpen sus estudios debido al embarazo (28) .…”