Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology (CEOG) is published by IMR Press from Volume 47 Issue 1 (2020). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Pregnancy in adolescents
Objective: to investigate pregnancy outcome and incidence of pregnancy-related disorders in the adolescent. Design: a matched control retrospective study. Subjects: pregnant adolescents aged 14 to 19 years admitted to the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Policlinico Umberto I, between the years 1984 and 1993; a comparable number of pregnancies aged 20 to 24 years was considered as a control group. Results: in the 10 yrs. period a total of 304 pregnancies in adolescents were considered. Preterm deliveries were 9.5% in the adolescent group vs 5.9% in control (P>0.05). A higher incidence was found in number of cesarean section (P<0.001), spontaneous abortion (P=0.003), intrauterine growth retardation (P=0.04) and fetal distress (P=0.04) in the adolescent group vs matched controls. Also mean birth weight was significantly lower in the adolescent group when compared with normal group (P<0.001). Conclusion: we found a higher incidence of obstetric complications, such as IUGR, acute fetal distress in labor and lower birth weight, in the adolescent group, resulting in a higher number of cesarean sections. We hypothesise that the relative state of “hypoarterialisation” characteristic of the adolescent uterus may be involved in the afore-mentioned complications.