Prognostic factors of pregnancy and delivery complications in Senegalese adolescents and their newborn

Developing countries exhibit the highest adolescent fertility rate in the world. Undesirable outcome frequency during adolescents' pregnancy and delivery is debated. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of these events and the factors predicting their occurrence among pregnant Senegalese adolescents and their newborn. The study was conducted between August 1st, 1999 and July 31st, 2000 in a national sample of 435 women attending prenatal clinics after a 20-week gestation. The data were collected by interviews: sociodemographic characteristics, obstetrical antecedents, current pregnancy history before inclusion in the study; the clinical characteristics were determined at inclusion. Then pregnancy and delivery complication occurrences were observed for mothers and their newborn during follow-up. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with each complication, controlling the effects of other sociodemographic and clinical factors. The most frequent pregnancy complications were pregnancy-induced hypertension and toxaemia (17.5%). Anemia occurred in 25% of the women. At delivery, at least one of dystocia, eclampsia, or placenta haemorrhage complications occurred in 46% of women. The caesarian rate was 20% and the mortality rate was 71%. When planned, caesarian interventions lowered mortality. Forty percent of the newborns presented a neonatal distress while 17.9% of them weighed less than 2,500 g. The pregnancy-induced hypertension and toxaemia incidence rates were higher when the weight at onset of pregnancy was unknown (OR = 3.7 [1.9-7.5] for hypertension and 3.1 [1.3-7.6] for toxaemia). When a woman with a narrow pelvis was less than 1.50 m tall, the delivery was more frequently assisted by forceps and extracting action in breech delivery. Dystocia, eclampsia, placenta haemorrhage and premature delivery were associated with high mortality. Overall, complications were not more frequent in the youngest (16 years and below), as suggested in previous studies. Those results suggest that undesirable events occur frequently during adolescents' pregnancy and delivery, and in their newborn, while attendance in prenatal clinics is adequate. The prognostic factors of these complications are identified. These complications can be avoided by improving ante- and perinatal care quality.