"While the rate of teenage pregnancies has remained high here, throughout most of the rest of Western Europe it fell rapidly. As a country, we can’t afford to continue to ignore this shameful record."
These are
Tony Blair speech in introduction of Social Exclusion Unit's report on teenage pregnancy. But, what is the truth? That's what we work on it in this article. Here is the english abstract and you can download
FULL TEXT ARTICLE by clicking on this image.
ABSTRACT
Is pregnancy in adolescence (teenage; 15-19 years of age) associated with an excess risk of poor outcomes? It is a difficult question to answer exactly which have caused a lot of controversy among researchers and health practitioners. The prevention of high risk pregnancy at any age especially for early adolescent (early adolescent childbearing is best defined as giving birth at 15 years or younger [1]) and adolescent is an important goal of our Gynecologists, Obstetrics, Pediatrics and our society. Adolescent pregnancy in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a complex issue affecting families, physicians, specialists, health educators and specialists, government officials, human rights organizations and youths themselves. Compulsory marriage, school interruption and poverty, make the phenomenon rather than what is considered to be – in this time and place-.
The purpose of this article is to review current arguments and issues related to adolescent pregnancy, update practitioners on this topic, and to provide specialists with recent data on adolescent sexuality and childbearing as well as information about preventing adolescent’s high risk pregnancy in our community and in clinical practice.
Definitions:
High risk pregnancy: one in which the mother or the developing fetus has a condition that places one or both of them at a higher-than-normal-risk for complications, either during the pregnancy (antepartum), during delivery (intrapartum), or following the birth (postpartum) [2].
Adolescent: a young person who has undergone puberty but who has not reached full maturity; a teenager [3].
Low birth weight (LBW): infants having birth weights of less than 2500gram [4].
Key Words:
High risk pregnancy • pregnancy • childbearing • maternal age • adolescent pregnancy • Teenage pregnancy • Birth weight • Low birth weight • Prematurity • Neonatal complications • Maternal complication •