Incidence and outcomes of teenage pregnancies in the estate sector in the ratnapura district, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Teenage pregnanciesare one of the major underlying causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. It prevents girls from achieving their goals in life. Objective: To study the incidence and related outcomes of teenage pregnancies in estate communities in the Ratnapura district. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted among 346 women who got pregnant within the period of one year from 1st January 2015 to 31st December 2015. The women were selected by cluster sampling technique from all the estates in the district. Data were collected by trained health volunteers using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Incidence of teenage pregnancies was expressed in percentage with 95% confidence interval. Pregnancy outcomes between teen and non teen mothers were compared using chi-square test. Results: Incidence of teenage pregnancies among the study group was 10.1% (95% CI=7.7, 12.52). Of them 22.9% (n=8) were below 18 years and not legally married. Among pregnancy outcomes, significant statistical association was observed for problems encountered in breast feeding within the first 48 hours of delivery (p=0.009),for satisfactory weight gain within first month (p=0.009) and whether the mother started a modern family planning method at six weeks after delivery (p=0.007). However, statistical association could not be observed for outcome of pregnancy whether live birth or abortion (p=0.055), starting breast feeding within one hour of delivery (p=0.961) and whether the newborn gets complications within 48 hours of delivery (p=0.237). Conclusions: High incidence of teenage pregnancies with associated disadvantages to the newborn and the mother in estates warrants identification of risk factors in future studies to design preventive programmes to improve maternal and child health in estates.

Keywords

• teenage pregnancy
• incidence
• outcome
• estate sector