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BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Published in: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 1/2022

Open Access 01-12-2022 | Research

Adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes of adolescent pregnancies in Africa: a scoping review

Authors: Mustapha Amoadu, Doris Hagan, Edward W. Ansah

Published in: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth | Issue 1/2022

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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.
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Metadata
Title
Adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes of adolescent pregnancies in Africa: a scoping review
Authors
Mustapha Amoadu
Doris Hagan
Edward W. Ansah
Publication date
01-12-2022
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth / Issue 1/2022
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2393
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-04821-w

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