Author:
Amoadu Mustapha,Hagan Doris,Ansah Edward W.
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Adolescent pregnancy is a public health issue with well-defined causes and health risks with social and economic implications. Aim of this review was to examine adverse pregnancy outcomes and risk factors associated with adolescent pregnancy in Africa.
Method
PubMed Central, Science Direct and JSTOR were the main databases for the literature review. Other online sources and experts were consulted for relevant studies. In all, 11,574 records were identified and 122 were considered as full-text studies for evaluation after thorough screening and removal of duplicates. Finally, 53 studies were included in this review for thematic synthesis.
Results
The 53 studies sampled 263,580 pregnant women, including 46,202 adolescents (< 20 years) and 217,378 adults (> 20 years). Adolescent pregnancy was associated with higher risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Factors of poor pregnancy outcomes included low socioeconomic and educational status, poor utilization of antenatal care, risky lifestyles such as alcohol consumption, and unattractive health care factors. Maternal health care utilization was identified as an important factor to improve pregnancy outcomes among adolescents in Africa.
Conclusion
To prevent adolescent pregnancy, stakeholders need to help lower socioeconomic inequalities, poor utilization of antenatal care, alcohol consumption, and improve adolescents’ health care and their educational status. Issues such as child marriage, abortion, poor health care infrastructure and non-adolescent friendly health facilities need to be addressed.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Reference71 articles.
1. WHO. Adolescent pregnancy. World Health Organisation (WHO). 2020. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy. Accessed 31 July 2021.
2. WHO, UNAIDS. Global standards for quality health-care services for adolescents volume 1: standards and criteria a guide to implement a standards-driven approach to improve the quality Oof health-care services for adolescents; 2015. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/183935. Accessed 19 Aug 2021.
3. Darroch JE, Woog V, Bankole A, Ashford LS, Points K. Costs and benefits of meeting the contraceptive needs of adolescents; 2016. https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/adding-it-up-adolescents-report.pdf. Accessed 19 Aug 2021.
4. Neal S, Matthews Z, Frost M, Fogstad H, Camacho AV, Laski L. Childbearing in adolescents aged 12–15 years in low resource countries: a neglected issue. New estimates from demographic and household surveys in 42 countries. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2012;91(9):1114–8.
5. WHO. Adolescent and young adult health. Adolescent and young adult health. 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescents-health-risks-and-solutions. Accessed 19 Aug 2021.
Cited by
7 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献