Obstetric and perinatal outcome of teenage and older primigravidas - a retrospective analysis.

Teenage girls are twice as likely to die of pregnancy and childbirth related complications as compared to older women. Existing literature shows that under-utilization of ante-natal care by adolescent mothers rather than maternal age is an important factor which determines the outcome of teenage pregnancy. To compare the maternal and perinatal outcome amongst primigravida teenage and older (20-29 years) mothers and to evaluate the effect of ante-natal care on maternal and foetal health; this analytical study of hospital records was conducted at the Safdarjung Hospital New Delhi. It was found that the number of booked women in both the age groups was not statistically different. There was no significant effect of ante-natal care on the occurrence of anaemia PIH preterm births or low birth weight babies. Ante-natal care significantly reduced the severity of anaemia and incidence of intra-uterine deaths. It was also observed that with improvement of the general health and nutrition of the girl child increasing the age of marriage and subsequent childbearing along with timely and quality ante-natal care reduce the incidences of anaemia PIH IUGR foetal loss and LBW babies.