Addressing the needs of adolescent mothers and their offspring in Nigeria: a community-based study

The purpose of this study is to determine the perinatal profile of adolescent mothers with surviving offspring against the backdrop of limited community-based data on the outcomes of adolescent pregnancy in low-income countries.

A case-control study of adolescent mothers (13-19 years) attending four community-based clinics for routine childhood immunization from July 2005 to March 2008 in Lagos, Nigeria, matched for infant age and sex. Maternal and infant factors associated with adolescent mothers were determined using unconditional and conditional multivariable logistic regression analyses.

A total of 241 adolescent mothers (mean age, 18.2±1.2 years) were consecutively recruited over the study period and matched with 1205 controls (mean age, 27.3±3.9 years). Adolescent mothers in this population were significantly more likely to be unmarried, of the Hausa ethnic tribe, without postsecondary education, unemployed, and primiparous. Although all received antenatal care, they were also more likely to deliver outside hospital without skilled attendants, and their offspring were likely to be undernourished.

Socio-demographic profile of adolescent girls who become pregnant is likely to have a significant influence on their health-seeking behavior for obstetric services. Teenagers especially from the most vulnerable ethnic groups in resource-poor countries should be educated on the developmental risks of early childbearing in their surviving offspring.