Perinatal Outcomes and Long-term Health in Offspring of Teenage Mothers

Abstract

Study objective: To evaluate whether extremely young maternal age (≤17 years) is associated with an increased risk of adverse perinatal outcome and an increased risk for long-term pediatric morbidity in offspring. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, INTERVENTIONS, AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A retrospective population-based cohort study, in which all singleton deliveries of women, between the years 1991 and 2014 were compared. Parturients were classified into 3 groups according to age at delivery: 17 years or younger, 18-20 years, and 21-35 years (the comparison group). The incidence of long-term hospitalizations of offspring because of cardiovascular, endocrine, hematological, and respiratory morbidity were evaluated in the 3 maternal age groups. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to compare the cumulative morbidity incidence. Multiple regression models were used to estimate the association between young maternal age and adverse pregnancy outcomes, and long-term offspring morbidities (using survival analysis) while controlling for multiple potential confounders.

Results: Of 213,177 deliveries that met the inclusion criteria, 90.1% (n = 192,185) occurred in mothers aged 21-35 years, 8.7% (n = 18,645) in mothers 18-20 years old, and 2347 were in mothers aged 17 years or younger (1.1%). Using multivariable logistic regression models, low birth weight and preterm delivery were significantly associated with young maternal age. The incidence of long-term morbidities of the offspring did not differ between the groups, in either the Kaplan-Meier analysis or the multivariable survival analysis.

Keywords: Long-term morbidity; Maternal age; Offspring; Perinatal outcomes.