Influence of Young Maternal Age on Pregnancy Outcome in Central Europe

During the past decade in the United States, approximately 10 percent of teenage girls from 15 to 19 became pregnant. According to the National Vital Statistics Report 2009 seventy of one thousand births in the United States accounted to teenagers from 15 to nineteen years of age during in 2005 and fell to forty per 1,000 women in 2006. In contrary, the overall teenage birth rate lay at twenty- two per 1,000 births in Massachusetts in 2007 ranging from seventy to thirteen per 1,000 women for Hispanic vs. white women aged 15- 19 years. Central European data showed equal results for teenage pregnancy birth rates. According to the German National Institute of Vital Statistics thirty-four of one thousand births in Germany accounted to teenagers younger than 20 years of age. This pattern is a source of concern since teenage mothers have an increased risk of having low-birth- weight babies, premature babies, and babies who die during the first year of life. Additionally, teenage mothers are more likely to suffer from other concomitant pregnancy diseases such as preeclampsia or anemia.

Furthermore, teenage mothers are more likely than older mothers to be poor, less well educated, non- white, unmarried and they are less likely to have received early prenatal care. Dealing with pregnant adolescents therefore means a great challenge in modern obstetrics. Previous research has shown racial differences as well as weight differences for increased risk of adverse prenatal outcome among African Americans and teenagers. Taking into account the impact of race on pregnancy outcomes, our goal was to examine the relationship of young maternal age on obstetrical outcomes in a predominantly Caucasian central European teenaged population.