Teen Pregnancy And Health Risks

Protecting Yourself and Your Baby - Teen Pregnancy and Health Risks

Teen pregnancy and health risks to both mother and infant are unfortunately closely related. In general, infants born to adolescent mothers are at a higher risk of accidental injury and poisoning, complications of prematurity, learning disabilities and cognitive problems, minor acute infections, sudden infant death syndrome. Also, rates of premature birth and low birth weight are higher among teenage mothers.

Teen pregnancy and health risks go hand in hand in girls 14 years old and younger because of an underdeveloped pelvis which can lead to difficulties in the childbirth process. In industrialized nations, this situation can be resolved with a Cesarean section. In developing nations, however, which have high rates of adolescent pregnancy, medical services are scarce and problems during childbirth can lead to eclampsia, obstetric fistula, infant mortality, or maternal death.

Another reason that teen pregnancy and health risks are closely associated is due to lack of knowledge of proper behavior; pregnant adolescents tend to have very poor eating habits, do not take vitamins and may smoke, drink and do drugs while they are pregnant, and this may lead to their baby being born with health problems or being stillborn. Statistics show that teenagers are also less likely to be of adequate pre-pregnancy weight, which increases the risk of having a baby with low birth weight.

Looking at some statistics regarding teen pregnancy and health risks, in 2002, 9.6% of 15-19 year old mothers had a baby of low birth weight, while only 7.8% of mothers of any age had babies that weighed less than 5.5 pounds. For pregnant adolescents that are younger, the risk is even greater; 11.3% of mothers aged 15 had a low birth weight baby. These underweight babies may have organs that are not fully developed, which can lead to things like respiratory distress syndrome, bleeding in the brain, blindness, and intestinal problems.

Furthermore, the relationship between teen pregnancy and health risks is dependent on the fact that pregnant adolescents often do not receive early and regular prenatal care, putting both the mother and the baby at risk. In 2002, 6.6 percent of 15-19 year-old mothers got late or no prenatal care; this is in comparison with 3.6% of all age groups. This is even more serious because an adolescent mother is at a greater risk for pregnancy complications such as anemia and high blood pressure, and these risks are even greater for adolescents under 15 years of age. Adolescents in this young age group are more than twice as likely to die of pregnancy complications as mothers between the ages of 20 to 24.

Out of 12 million cases annually, 3 million are the teens affected by sexually transmitted diseases. If the mother is affected by an STD, these can cause serious health risks to her child as well; syphilis can cause death of the infant, besides causing blindness and death of the mother, and HIV can be fatal to both mother and child.

News About Teenage Pregnancy

Teen births decline in Texas 29 Jul 2010 at 3:02pm
In Texas, 64 of every 1,000 births are from teenage mothers - with the national rate at 43 births per 1,000.

Facial spots outstaying teen stage? 29 Jul 2010 at 9:13am
Spots were once the scourge of hormonal teenage years, a skin problem that was thank-fully kissed goodbye come adulthood. But for a growing number of British women, that is not the case.

Amy Bernays: Motherhood 29 Jul 2010 at 3:21pm
She had really long legs, looked a bit like a turkey, with a very small comb and a tentative step in her gate.

Quezon City court junks case vs sex ed 29 Jul 2010 at 4:30pm
A Quezon City court yesterday dismissed a civil case against the education department?s sex education program after the petitioning group itself moved to withdraw the complaint.

Modern families 29 Jul 2010 at 1:38pm
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt ...

B/A holds regional youth forum 29 Jul 2010 at 10:14am
Sunyani, July 29, GNA - Mr. Kwadwo Nyamekye Marfo, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, has said the government had awarded contract for the construction of classroom blocks in 21 Senior High Schools(SHS) in the region to cater for the four year Senior High School programme due to start in September.

YOUR COMMENTS 28 Jul 2010 at 11:39am
Four years ago, the county's death rate for black infants was so high that it exceeded state and national levels.

Shared FUEL Receives $25,000 Grant from Hoblitzelle Foundation 28 Jul 2010 at 6:42pm
Dallas - Shared FUEL, a nonprofit founded by three East Dallas neighbors to ignite sustainable change, today announced that it has received a $25,000 grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation to develop a bilingual gardening education program for Promise of Peace, whose mission is to decrease gang participation and the dropout rate among East Dallas teens through a community garden located at 7446 ...

Moonridge teens host sex talk 28 Jul 2010 at 1:08pm
The birds and the bees are about the last thing most teenagers want to talk about with their parents. But what happens when parents are more cagey about sex than their children?

Grant hopes to aid teen parents 28 Jul 2010 at 3:43pm
A three-year grant for $187,000 is designed to help Grand Island Senior High keep teen parents and parents-to-be in high school until they graduate.