Maternal and perinatal outcomes in teenage pregnancy between indigenous and non-indigenous. Is there a difference?

Noor Nazurah Abdul Malek; Harris Suharjono; Ashalatha Shetty

doi:10.7861/clinmedicine.19-3s-s26

Introduction

Pregnancy in teenagers is a common occurrence worldwide and its rates vary between countries due to the differences in level of sexual activity, law and policies in teen marriages, sex education provided and access to contraception. There are about 16 million teenagers between the age of 15–19 years old giving birth every year, contributing to 11% of total deliveries worldwide.¹ According to the World Health Organization, teenage pregnancy is defined as a ‘teenaged or under-aged girl, usually within the age of 13–19, becoming pregnant’. This study is looking into teenage pregnancy in Sarawak, a state in Borneo, Malaysia.

Aim

To look into both maternal and perinatal outcomes in teenage pregnancy among indigenous and non-indigenous groups in Sarawak.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of case records of teenage pregnancies from January to December 2014 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), Kuching, Malaysia. A total of 970 teenage pregnancies were analysed using Chi squared test and logistic regression analysis in SPSS Version 24.

Results

The overall teenage pregnancy rate in 2014 in SGH was 8.3%. Indigenous population had a higher teenage pregnancy rate with 10.2% rather than 7.9% among non-indigenous. This study has also shown that indigenous teens were 2.87 times more likely to be single (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.76–4.70), had a 1.57 times higher risk (95% CI: 1.09–2.27) of going into caesarean section during delivery and they are at 2.05 times higher risk of having low birth weight babies.

Conclusion

Indigenous teenagers are 2.87 times more likely to be single than married, have a 1.57 times higher risk of delivering by caesarean section and a 2.05 times increased chance of having low birth weight babies.