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What's so bad about teenage pregnancy?
1University of Oxford Medical School, UK. acunning@doctors.org.uk
The Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care
|November 30, 2002
Abstract:
A systematic literature review identified the most frequently cited medical consequences of teenage pregnancy as anaemia, pregnancy-induced hypertension, low birth weight, prematurity, intra-uterine growth retardation and neonatal mortality. Critical appraisal suggested that increased risks of these outcomes were predominantly caused by the social, economic, and behavioural factors that predispose some young women to pregnancy. Maternal age less than 16 years was associated with a modest (1.2-2.7 fold) increase in prematurity, low birth weight and neonatal death.