Effects of a specialized prenatal adolescent program on maternal and infant outcomes

The effects of a specialized prenatal educational program on perinatal outcomes in an urban adolescent maternity term population were examined. Fifty pregnant adolescents attended the program and 50 nonattenders served as controls. All subjects delivered at the same large metropolitan hospital. The data supported the hypotheses predicting that those adolescents exposed to the educational program and their infants would demonstrate fewer perinatal complications than those not exposed to the program. When analyzed by age, attenders and their infants in both groups (13 to 15 and 16 to 18 years of age) had fewer complications than nonattenders. Attenders also demonstrated lower frequencies of several obstetric and postnatal complications than did nonattenders. This study underscores the positive effects a specialized education program can have on adolescent perinatal outcomes.