Prevalence, predictors and adverse outcomes of adolescent pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa: a protocol of a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundSeveral studies have reported on factors influencing adolescent pregnancies and the associated outcomes, but evidence from a systematic review is limited, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where the greater burden lies. Establishment of accurate epidemiological data on the rates of adolescent pregnancy, its predictors, and adverse outcomes (maternal and neonatal) may have important implications towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.MethodsThis will be a systematic review of studies reporting predictors of adolescent pregnancy and adverse outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa published between January 2000 and December 2017. The following databases will be searched: PubMed/MEDLINE, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), SCOPUS, Popline, Africa Wide Information, African Index Medicus, Google scholar and the Cochrane library. Three authors will independently screen all potential articles for eligibility as guided by the selection criteria. The Stata statistical software will be used in analysing the data. Appropriate meta-analytic techniques will be used to pool prevalence estimates from studies with similar features, overall and by major subgroups as warranted. Heterogeneity of studies will be evaluated by the χ 2 test on Cochrane’s Q statistic. Publication bias will be sorted for using funnel plot analysis and Egger’s test. Qualitative synthesis will be used where data are insufficient to produce a quantitative synthesis. This protocol is reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 guidelines.DiscussionThis systematic review and meta-analysis is expected to serve as a template for designing adolescent-friendly preventive and control programmes to help curb the ever-growing burden of adolescent pregnancies, and as a guide for future research.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42017070773 Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13643-017-0650-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes of adolescent pregnancy: a cross sectional study in Hebei, China

“…Moreover, the number of unmarried adolescent pregnant women was 10 times higher than that in adults. The reasons for the situation above could be attributed to the factors such as poverty, low education, lack of sex education and contraceptive methods [12,27]. In addition, adolescent pregnant women lacked economic independence [11], and they might be difficult to deal with the burden of pregnancy [13].…”

“…In Bangladesh, with a low economic level in South Asia, the adolescent pregnancy rate in 2015 was 20.2% [11]. In Africa, adolescent pregnancy rate was 18.8% from 1990 to 2018 [6], and even more than 50% in sub-Saharan areas, with 44% of its population below 15 years old [12]. In rural Cameroon, the adolescent pregnancy rate was 20.4% from 2009 to 2016 [13].…”

The adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes of adolescent pregnancy: a cross sectional study in Hebei, China

“…Moreover, the number of unmarried adolescent pregnant women was 10 times higher than that in adults. The reasons for the situation above could be attributed to the factors such as poverty, low education, lack of sex education and contraceptive methods [12,27]. In addition, adolescent pregnant women lacked economic independence [11], and they might be difficult to deal with the burden of pregnancy [13].…”

“…In Bangladesh, with a low economic level in South Asia, the adolescent pregnancy rate in 2015 was 20.2% [11]. In Africa, adolescent pregnancy rate was 18.8% from 1990 to 2018 [6], and even more than 50% in sub-Saharan areas, with 44% of its population below 15 years old [12]. In rural Cameroon, the adolescent pregnancy rate was 20.4% from 2009 to 2016 [13].…”

The adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes of adolescent pregnancy: a cross sectional study in Hebei, China

“…In Bangladesh, with a low economic level in South Asia, the adolescent pregnancy rate in 2015 was 20.2% [11]. In Africa, adolescent pregnancy rate was 18.8% from 1990 to 2018 [12], and even more than 50% in sub-Saharan areas, with 44% of its population below 15 years old [13]. In rural Cameroon, the adolescent pregnancy rate was 20.4% from 2009 to 2016 [14].…”