Pregnancy complications, substance abuse, and prenatal care predict birthweight in adolescent mothers

Miriam Hacker; Christine Firk; Kerstin Konrad; Kerstin Paschke; Joseph Neulen; Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann; Brigitte Dahmen

doi:10.1186/s13690-021-00642-z

Pregnancy complications, substance abuse, and prenatal care predict birthweight in adolescent mothers

Arch Public Health. 2021 Jul 29;79(1):137. doi: 10.1186/s13690-021-00642-z.

Authors

Miriam Hacker^{1

2}, Christine Firk^{3

4}, Kerstin Konrad^{3

5}, Kerstin Paschke⁶, Joseph Neulen⁷, Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann¹, Brigitte Dahmen⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen University, Neuenhofer Weg 21, Aachen, Germany.
² Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care , Municipal Clinic of Karlsruhe , Karlsruhe, Germany.
³ Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
⁴ Catholic University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Germany.
⁵ JARA-Brain Institute II, Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, RWTH Aachen & Research Centre Juelich, Aachen, Germany.
⁶ German Center for Addiction Research in Childhood and Adolescence, University Hospital Hamburg- Eppendorf, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany.
⁷ Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, University Hospital RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen University, Neuenhofer Weg 21, Aachen, Germany. bdahmen@ukaachen.de.

Abstract

Background: Reduced birthweight is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes later in life. Children of adolescent mothers are at higher risk for reduced birthweight. The current study aimed to identify the key risk factors affecting birthweight in a well-characterized sample of adolescent mothers to inform preventive public health efforts.

Methods: Sixty-four adolescent mothers (≤ 21 years of age) provided detailed data on pregnancy, birth and psychosocial risk. Separate regression analyses with (1) birthweight and (2) low birthweight (LBW) as outcomes, and pregnancy complications, prenatal care, maternal age, substance abuse during pregnancy, socioeconomic risk, stressful life events and the child's sex as independent variables were conducted. Exploratively, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to investigate the quality of the discriminatory power of the risk factors.

Results: The following variables explained variance in birthweight significantly: prenatal care attendance (p = .006), pregnancy complications (p = .006), and maternal substance abuse during pregnancy (p = .044). Prenatal care attendance (p = .023) and complications during pregnancy (p = .027) were identified as significant contributors to LBW. Substance abuse (p = .013), pregnancy complications (p = .022), and prenatal care attendance (p = .044) showed reasonable accuracy in predicting low birthweight in the ROC analysis.

Conclusions: Among high-risk adolescent mothers, both biological factors, such as pregnancy complications, and behavioural factors amenable to intervention, such as substance abuse and insufficient prenatal care, seem to contribute to reduced birthweight in their children, a predisposing factor for poorer health outcomes later in life. More tailored intervention programmes targeting the specific needs of this high-risk group are needed.

Keywords: Adolescent pregnancy; Low birthweight; Perinatal prevention; Pregnancy complications; Prenatal care; Teenage mothers.

Abstract

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