Factors associated with preterm delivery among pregnant adolescents.
The purpose was to identify characteristics of pregnant adolescents associated with preterm delivery. We studied 126 poor, black, 12 through 18-year-old pregnant adolescents and compared the prevalence of potentially high-risk maternal characteristics and obstetric complications in those who bore preterm and term infants. Of the adolescents studied, 12 (9.5%) delivered prematurely. Five maternal characteristics--conception within 3 years of menarche, a low body mass index, a past history of physical or sexual abuse, a socially deviant father of the baby, and vaginal bleeding during the first 8 weeks of gestation--were associated with preterm delivery. A theoretical model is proposed and the therapeutic implication of the study findings.
Stevens-Simon
C
C
Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of Colorado Health Science Center, Denver 80218.
Kaplan
D W
DW
McAnarney
E R
ER
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D044383:Black People; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors