Comparison of Perinatal Outcomes of Primiparous Adolescent and Non-Adolescent Pregnancies

Aim of the study: To determine the course and outcomes of pregnancy and childbirth in adolescents compared to women aged 25-34 years. Objectives: 1. To analyze the rate of the pathological conditions during pregnancy in adolescents compared to adult primigravida mothers. 2. To analyze the peculiarities of the course of the labour in adolescents compared to adult primigravida mothers. 3. To analyze the rate of premature birth and the status of newborns in adolescents compared to adult primigravida mothers. 4. To assess whether the young maternal age (<18 year old) is a factor related to the perinatal outcomes. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was carried out to analyze perinatal outcomes of all primiparous pregnant adolescents aged <18 years that gave birth in the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics during 2008 and 2018. Altogether 508 adolescent pregnancies were included. The study group was compared with the control group of 391 randomly selected primiparous pregnant women aged 25-34 years. Data were retrieved from the electronic database of the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics. Calculations were carried out using Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS). The results were considered significant with a p value of less than 0.05. Results: Preterm delivery at <37 weeks of gestation (14.8% vs 8.7%; p=0.005) was more common among adolescents. Apgar score after 1 and 5 minutes was the same in both of the groups – 9.00 ± 1 (p=0.175 and 0.233). Adolescent pregnancy was associated with increased rates of maternal anaemia (15.3% vs 3.6%; p<0.0001), urinary tract infections (1.8% vs 0.3%; p=0.049) and chorioamnionitis (3.0% vs 0.3%; p=0.002), while maternal hypertension (7.2% vs 3.4%; p=0.013) and gestational diabetes (5.1% vs 2.4%; p=0.03) were more common among adult group. Caesarean delivery occured less frequently in teenagers than in adults, with the results 14.4% vs 29.2%; p<0.0001, respectively. Women aged 25-34 years have chosen epidural analgesia more often compared to adolescents (40.4% vs 25.2%; p