title: Pregnancies too young, too old, too many and too frequent in Nigeria; prevalence and the effect on birthweight and perinatal mortality.
abstract: Among 2,865 consecutive singleton deliveries at Ilorin, Nigeria, high-risk pregnancies classified as too young, 206 (7.2%); too old, 74 (2.6%); too many, 234 (8.2%): too frequent, 216 (7.5%); and two or more variables 283, (9.8%) accounted for a total of 1013 (33.9%) deliveries. Low birth weight infants are significantly more among high-risk infants, 89 (8.8%), when compared to control infants, 87 (4.7%) (p less than 0.001). Similarly, the relative risk for perinatal mortality was 2.8 to 6.8 times higher among the high-risk pregnancies. A comprehensive programme offering family planning, education and economic opportunities is advocated for prevention.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fakeye
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001724:Birth Weight; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence