Nutritional assessment of pregnant teenagers attending the Mater Misericordiae hospital

The nutrient intakes of 35 pregnant teenagers (mean age 17 years) and 25 pregnant adults (mean age 26 years) attending the Mater Mothers Misericordiae Hospital in Brisbane were studied and compared. The nutrient intakes of the pregnant teenagers were also compared with those of a group of non-pregnant teenagers (mean age 16.9 years) of a similar socio-economic status. The 24 hour recall and food frequency questionnaire were used to determine nutrient intake. The 24 hour recall and food frequency questionnaire were used to determine nutrient intakes. Life size photographs were used to determine portion sizes. Between one and three recalls were done for each subject on different days of the week. Correlations between intakes determined by the two methods were generally good and mean intakes determined by the two methods were not significantly different in most cases. The food photographs improved the accuracy of these methods. No significant difference in the intake of energy, protein, iron, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin C of the pregnant teenagers and pregnant adults and the pregnant teenagers and non-pregnant teenagers were found. The pregnant adults had a greater intake of calcium than the pregnant teenagers. The intakes of energy was less than estimated requirements for Australian women and zinc and iron intakes were less than the Australian RDis for pregnant women. The intake of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and calcium were adequate compared to the Australian RDI's. No significant difference was found between the weight gain of the pregnant teenagers and pregnant adults. Both groups had weight gains greater than recommended for Australian women. The birthweights of the infants and length of gestations of the pregnant teenagers and pregnant adults were not significantly different. Despite the intake of energy, iron and zinc being less than recommended for both groups birthweight and length of gestation were similar to the Australian average. This suggests that the RDis for these nutrients are excessive. Haemoglobin and serum ferritin levels of the pregnant women were studied. There was no significant difference between the levels of haemoglobin and serum ferritin of the two groups. Despite a number of pregnant women having haemoglobin and serum ferritin levels indicative of anaemia and storage depletion, no significant association was found between iron status and birthweight or length of gestation. It was concluded that the older pregnant teenagers attending the Mater Mothers Hospital are at no greater nutritional risk than the pregnant adults at the same hospital