Characteristics of newborns of adolescent mothers

Objective: To determine the impact of adolescent maternal age on preterm birth, low birth weight, small-for-gestational-age or lower birth weight in comparison to other newborns from the control group. Materials and methods: An analysis of the perinatal database at 6 regional maternity hospitals for 1999 and 2000, for 378 newborns of adolescent mothers from singleton births. The control group consisted of newborns of mothers 19-35 aged from the same maternity hospitals. Results: There is a significant difference in the incidence of newborns of adolescent mothers between the different regions (p<0.01). There are no statistically significant differences between numbers of full-term and low-birth weight newborns but the number of preterm newborns from adolescent mothers and small-for-gestational-age newborns has a statistically significant higher incidence in comparison to the control group (p<0.05). The incidence of large-for-gestational-age newborns is significantly lower (p<0.05) while the incidence of eutrophic full-term newborn shows no deviations from the control group values. The mean birth weight, birth length and head circumference of the newborns of adolescent mothers are significantly lower in comparison to the control group. The incidence of caesarean section newborns is lower in the study group (p<0,05). Conclusion: Newborns of adolescent mothers have lower birth weight, birth length and head circumference, a higher incidence of small-for-gestational-age and higher risk of preterm birth.