Antecedents and objectives:

Adolescent pregnancy is a world-wide health problem of ample impact upon both mother and foetus. The aim of this research is to analyse the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in the sanitary area of the HCDGU and compare the obtetrical and perinatal variables of pregnant adolescents (under 20) with those of pregnant women between 20 and 30 years old.

Materials and methods:

this is a retrospective and descriptive research of the births that have taken place at Hospital Central de la Defensa Gómez Ulla in the period between 2011 and 2013. 1358 were analysed; 81 of pregnant adolescents and 634 of the women of the control group. Data were gathered from the hospital birth records and were studied with the SPSS 16.0 software.

Results:

adolesecent pregnancy implied the 6% of the births in the period considered, with a mothers’ average age of 17.7 years old. Most of these adolescent mothers were of foreign origin, with a special predominance of Latin American (91.2% vs 66.6%). Most deliveries were vaginal (81.5% vs 76.7%) with no significant differences between both groups on the average pregnancy period at the moment of the delivery (39+4 weeks vs 39+5 weeks). On the other hand, newly born children from adolescent mothers differences showed significantly lower weight.

Conclusions:

the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in our hospital was almost three times higher than the national average. No differences in the delivery type, the gestational age and the newly borns’ pH were detected between the adolescents and the control group women. The rate of Caesarean sections and perinatal weight was lower in pregnant adolescents.