A comparative study on obstetric complications among adolescents at Kasangati Health Centre in Uganda

Abstract

Abstract A comparative study on obstetric complications among adolescents at Kasangati Health Centre in Uganda Degree Project thesis, Programme in Medicine Author: Hanna Ronnås Supervisors: Håkan Lilja and Ivan Nyenje Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Institute of clinical sciences at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. Sweden 2015 Background. Uganda is a country with a high proportion of young individuals and where childbearing begins early. Twenty-four per cent are already mothers or pregnant with their first child at age nineteen. Several studies point towards an increased risk of adverse obstetric outcome becoming a mother in young age in low and middle income countries whether other studies state the contrary. Aim. To investigate the frequency of obstetric complications among primiparous women age 19 and below, giving birth at Kasangati, a suburban health centre outside Kampala. Methods. Both a retrospective and a prospective case-control method were used. Semi-structured interviews with questions on the women´s living condition and socioeconomic background were also performed. The controls were primiparous women in age 20 to 24 years registered during the same period. Results. It was found that a higher proportion of teenagers had an expected or found complication (35.6 per cent vs 28.9 per cent). However the difference was small and was not found significant. An association between low birth weight and teenage women was found (p-value= 0.003). This finding was supported by the results in the prospective study (p-value = 0.02). Due to uncertainty in determining gestational age, it´s difficult to make any further conclusions whether the cause is correlated to intrauterine growth restriction or to premature birth. A tendency towards a higher rate of adverse obstetric outcome like premature birth, prolonged labour, obstructed labour and preeclampsia among teenagers was also found. However none of these differences were found significant. Conclusions. To determine the underlying cause of low birth weight further studies should be made in a setting where more reliable estimation of gestational age and intrauterine growth could be done. Keywords: adolescent, teenager, childbirth, obstetric outcome, obstetric complications, low birth weight