Teenage Pregnancy and Its Associated Factors in Eastern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Study

BACKGROUND: Teenage pregnancy is a global issue raising concerns for all who are interested in the health and well-being of young women and their children. It carries major health and social issues with unique medical and psychosocial consequences for both adolescents and society in general. This study aimed at assessing the prevalence and factors associated with teenage pregnancy in eastern Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Multi-stage simple random sampling procedure was used to select 2258 female teenagers. Interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were entered into EpiData and analyzed using stata software. The Poisson regression model with robust variance estimation was used to examine the association of the independent variable with teenage pregnancy. An adjusted prevalence ratio (APR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was reported. RESULTS: The prevalence of teenage pregnancy was 30.2% (95% CI: 28.3, 32.1). Age 16–17 years old (APR=7.05; 95% CI: 4.15,11.96), 17–18 years old (APR=9.85; 95% CI: 5.72,16.98), not being in school (APR=2.83; 95% CI: 1.93,4.16), lack of formal education (APR=1.11; 95% CI: 1.03,1.19), being married (APR=3.59; 95% CI: 2.83,4.56), parental divorce (APR=1.24; 95% CI: 1.08,1.42), having elder sister who had a history of teenage pregnancy (APR=1.11; 95% CI: 1.02,1.21), and not knowing fertile period in menstrual cycle (APR=1.31; 95% CI: 1.16,1.47) were independently associated with teenage pregnancy. CONCLUSION: One in three teenagers had been pregnant. Age, not being in school, lack of formal education, being married, parental divorce, having an elder sister who had a history of teenage pregnancy, and not knowing fertile period during the menstrual cycles were the factors associated with teenage pregnancy. In Ethiopia, further efforts are required in the prevention of teenage pregnancy, keeping girls in school and strengthening the policy of delaying child marriage, particularly in rural areas.