Objective: To evaluate the maternal morbidity in < or = 16 year old pregnant teenagers.
Material and methods: A prospective study of the reviewed cases was carried out from June 1998 to May 1999. All pregnant teenagers which attended the Coordination for the Attention of the Teenage Patient and whose pregnancy came to term during the study period were included. The following variables were analyzed: maternal age, preexisting related diseases, number of pregnancies, number of prenatal control medical visits and the time at which these were started, and maternal morbidity secondary to pregnancy.
Results: Two hundred and ninety six of 330 case were included. The average maternal age was 15.1 years old (10-16 range); 68.9% had finished middle school; 82.2% were housekeepers, and 61.4% were single. Prenatal control was initiated in the 2nd trimester by 50.7% of them, while 39.5% started it in the 3rd trimester and the remaining 9.8% in the 1st trimester. The most frequent previous pathologies were: bronchial asthma (2.5%), drug addiction (2%), hypothyroidism (2%), cardiopathy (1.5%). The most common complications during pregnancy: urinary system infections (20.4%), anemia (9.8%), threats of premature labour (9.8%), premature membrane rupture (9%), hypertensive disease induced by pregnancy (3.2%), delayed intrauterine growth (2.4%) and fetal malformation (2.4%). About 44.1% of the pregnancies were interrupted by cesarean section, 35.6% by eutochia and 20.3% by instrumented labour. The most frequent complications during the puerperium were: tearing of the canal of the cervix (7%), decidual endometritis (3.3%), dehiscence of surgical wounds (2.7%), and pyelonephritis (1.6%).
Conclusions: The pregnant teenager is a "special" patient form the biopsychosocial point of view, thus, she must be managed by a multidisciplinary team, with special emphasis in the problems analyzed in this study.