Adolescent Primigravidae and Their Obstetric Performance

Summary: The obstetric performance of adolescent primigravidae in a major metropolitan teaching hospital was analysed retrospectively and found to be similar, if not superior, to that of a control group of primigravidae. This was surprising in view of the late antenatal presentation of the adolescents and their smaller physique. More low birth weight infants, however, were born to adolescent than to older primigravidae, although the perinatal mortality was not increased because of this. Modern obstetric practice is increasingly concerned with adolescent pregnancies, many of the latter occurring in younger age groups (Oliver, 1975; Baldwin, 1976; Hunt, 1976). Traditionally, such pregnancies have been associated with an increased prevalence of social, psychological and obstetric problems. Therefore, we thought that a review of the obstetric performance of adolescent primigravidae in our Hospital would be useful in order to define any particular problems and to assess the increased risk of complications if such existed. An adolescent primigravid pregnancy was defined as a first pregnancy when the maternal age at delivery was 16 years or less (taken to the last completed year). The controls were delivered subsequent to one of the adolescent primigravidae. All adolescent pregnancies that resulted in spontaneous or therapeutic abortion were excluded from the study. The racial composition of both groups was similar and included mainly Australians, Greeks, and Italians as well as some other migrants.