In 2006, according to the Guttmacher Institute, 750,000 females under the age of 20 became pregnant. This represents about seven percent of young girls in the United States between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. California, Texas and New York had the greatest number of teen pregnancies. These are the most-recent data available regarding teen pregnancies. Teenage pregnancies represent significant health risks to both the mother and the baby.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases is higher in teenage pregnancies. Gonorrhea, herpes, chlamydia, genital warts and HIV disease can significantly impact a teen pregnancy.
The highest rates of gonorrhea are found in young women in the 15-24 year old group regardless of ethnicity. Gonorrhea infection is also a marker for concomitant chlmydial infection. Gonorrhea infection can cause preterm delivery, premature rupture of the membranes of the placenta and infection of the amniotic fluid and surrounding membranes. In the newborn infant gonorrhea infection can cause blindness, ulceration of the eye and death.
Chlymadia infection is a silent infection that many women do not know they have. If a pregnant woman remains untreated there is a thirty to fifty percent chance that she will transmit the infection to her baby if the baby is delivered vaginally. This exposure can cause pneumonia and eye infections that cause blindness (see reference 2).
Herpes can be spread to the baby in different ways. The baby can acquire it while in the womb, during birth or develop symptoms after birth. This exposure can lead to infections in the baby's mouth eys or skin. It can also infection of the brain and herpes can infect multiple organs. Cesearean section is recommended in women who have an active outbreak of herpes at the time of delivery.
HIV disease can be transmitted through the placenta at a rate of fifteen to forty percent. This transmission is more common in preterm birth which is more prevalent in teenage pregnancies. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends HIV testing in all pregnant women.
Higher Infant Mortality
Adolescent pregnancies carry the risk of higher mortality. The incidence of low birth rate babies in teenage pregnancy is higher because the adolescent female is still growing and developing and they are not able to meet the increase caloric demand of theirs and the baby's growth. Teens are also experimenting with alcohol, cigarettes and drugs which are known to affect fetal growth and their morbidity and mortality.
Pre-Eclampsia
Pre-eclampsia is a syndrome defined by the onset of high blood pressure and protein found in the urine. Other signs and symptoms include swelling of the hands and feet, visual disturbances and headache. This syndrome is the precursor of a high mortality condition know as eclampsia. Eclampsia is defined as the new onset of seizures in a pregnant woman. This condition is more common in first pregnancies and can go undetected in a teen pregnancy beacuse they do not seek out prenatal care. When teens suffer eclampsia the condition carries a high mortality for both mother and baby (see reference 4). It is essential that adolescents who become pregnant seek prenatal care.
References
- U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions:
- Williams Obstetrics. 22nd Edition". Cunningham f, Leveno K, Bloom S, Hauth J, Gilstrap L, and Wenstrom, K. 2005
- 2006 Compendium of Selected Publications. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2006
- Adolescent pregnancy and the development of pre-eclampsia--eclampsia
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