title: Evaluation of adolescent pregnancies: 10-year experience of a hospital in rural Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the characteristics of adolescent pregnancies admitted to our clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective and descriptive study was performed at Ergani State Hospital from January 2000 to December 2010. This is an outpatient gynecology and obstetrics at government hospital in Southern Eastern Region of Turkey. A total of 15,210 pregnancies were delivered during the study period, of whom 711 of them were adolescent pregnancies. Statistical analyses were carried out using the statistical packages for SPSS 15.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the study period, of the total of 15,210 deliveries 711 (4.6%) were adolescent pregnancies (age range 14-19 years). The mean age (95% CI) of the patients was 17.90 +/-1.12 (17.82-17.98) years old. Most of the patients were nulliparous (n = 559, 78.60%). Mean gestational weeks, fetal birth weight and fetal birth length and 95% CI values were as follows: 37.11 +/- 2.53 (36.93-37.30), 3045.73 +/- 51.70 (3007.65-3083.79) and 48.68 +/- 2.31 (48.51-48.85), respectively. Six hundred and twenty (87.20%) of the patients delivered spontaneously by the vaginal route, while 91 (12.80%) were delivered by cesarean section. Although the age range of the patients was not wide, there was a significant correlation between maternal age, gestational age, fetal birth weight and fetal birth length (p < .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to this study, the ratio of adolescent pregnancies was found to be 4.6% which was lower than other regions of Turkey. The majority of the patients were nulliparous and most delivered spontaneously by the vaginal route. There was a significant correlation between maternal age, gestational age, fetal birth weight and fetal birth length.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Ergani State Hospital, Diyarbakir, Turkey. bulentdemirmd@hotmail.com
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Guzel
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Demir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult