title: Early teenage marriage and subsequent pregnancy outcome.
abstract: The relationship between marriage before 16 years and pregnancy outcome throughout the childbearing period was examined. Participants included all married women attending six randomly selected primary health care units in Jeddah with at least one infant and complete medical files. Early teenage marriage was found for 27.2% of women. Most of these were illiterate (57.1%), housewives (92.4%) and grand multiparae (66.7%). They were at twice the risk of spontaneous abortion, four times the risk of combined fetal death and infant mortality, and twice the risk of losing pregnancies any time during their childbearing years. They remained at high risk of poor pregnancy outcome throughout their reproductive lives. Despite tradition, marriage should be discouraged before 16 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine and Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shawky
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Milaat
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008393:Marriage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008423:Maternal Age; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018566:Pregnancy, High-Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology