Prevalence of Adolescent Pregnancy in A Tertiary Care Hospital

INTRODUCTION: WHO defines adolescent pregnancy as any pregnancy from a girl who is 10-19 years of age, the age being defined as her age at the time the baby is born. Globally, adolescent birth rate is 44 per 1000 women aged 15-19 years whereas 33 per 1000 in South East Asian region. The main objective of the study is to find the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in a tertiary care hospital. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nobel Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Biratnagar over a period of six months from 1(st) January 2018 to 30(th) June 2018. Using the convenient sampling technique, 2688 samples were studied and the descriptive statistical analysis was done. RESULTS: The prevalence of teenage pregnancy was found to be among 143 (5.3%) [5.3%±0.85% at 95% Confidence Interval]. Maximum adolescents of 95 (66.4%) presented at gestational age between 37 to 40 weeks. Regarding contraception, only 2 (1.4%) of teenage mothers had used Injectable Depo Provera. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage and carries a social stigma but in the context of developing countries it usually happens within marriage and half of them are planned reflecting educational status and contraception knowledge. Effective interventions need to be developed like strict enforcement of laws prohibiting teenage marriage.