Determinants of Delivery Outcomes in Teenage Mothers at a University Teaching Hospital, South-Eastern, Nigeria

Aim: This study aims at identifying some delivery outcome determinants in teenage mothers and evaluating the effect of booking in light of these parameters.
Study Design: A retrospective study.
Place and Duration of Study: Teenage mothers who delivered in a teaching hospital in Nigeria over a 5-year period (between 1st Jan, 2003 and 31st Dec, 2007).
Method: Labour ward register and midwives report books were used to get their hospital numbers. These case notes were retrieved subsequently from the health records department and relevant data extracted.
Results: There were 8,297 deliveries during the study period and 453 cases of teenage mothers giving a teenage delivery incidence of 5.5%. Of the total teenage deliveries, older teenage mothers (16-19 years) constituted 94.7% while younger teenage mothers were 5.3%. Booked teenage mothers were 83.5% while 16.5% were unbooked. Still birth rate was 87 per 1000. No maternal death was recorded among the teenage mothers. Older teenagers had better obstetric indices such as higher vaginal delivery rate, lower caesarean section and instrumental delivery rate, reduced blood loss, better Apgar scores and less intra uterine fatal deaths than younger teenagers. However, some of these were not statistically significant and in some cases, were barely marginal.
Conclusion: Influence of age on teenage delivery and other biological risk factors may not be as much as earlier perceived. Paying special attention to the socio-economic condition of teenage mothers and by extension, their access to essential obstetric care, may obviate the poor obstetric outlook hitherto attached to it.