Perinatal Outcome in Unbooked Teenage Pregnancies in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria

Background. Teenage pregnancy being a high risk condition requires skilled attention for good outcome. Objectives. To determine the influence of antenatal care on perinatal outcome in teenage pregnancies in Calabar. Materials and Methods. A review of patient records in Calabar was conducted between 1st January, 2006 and 31st December, 2010, to determine perinatal outcome in teenage pregnancy. Results. Teenage pregnancy accounted for 644 (6.5%) of the total deliveries with 245 (38.0%) booked while 399 (62.0%) were unbooked. Teenage mothers contributed significantly to the proportion of women who were delivered without prior antenatal care (χ (2) = 6.360; P < 0.05). The mean duration of labour in booked teenagers was 10.85 ± 4.2 hours, while unbooked teenagers was 23.31 ± 3.6 hours (t-value = 77.1039; P < 0.05). There was statistically more caesarean sections among unbooked teenage pregnancies than booked (χ (2) = 36.75; P < 0.05). Stillbirth was statistically significant (χ (2) = 27.096; P < 0.05) among unbooked teenagers than booked. However, early neonatal death was not significantly different between booked and unbooked teenage pregnancies(χ (2) = 0.512; P < 0.05). Conclusion. Unbooked teenage pregnancies were significantly associated with increased operative intervention and poor perinatal outcome.