Maternal and fetal mortality in adolescent patients

Abstract

Adolescent pregnancy represents a major health problem worldwide, because it is associated with multiple maternal and fetal complications, the most important one being maternal death. According to the specialty literature, the leading cause of death among adolescents is represented by adverse outcomes associated with pregnancy. Also, in this group of patients there is a high risk of sexually trans­mit­ted diseases. The most common obstetrical com­pli­ca­tions in pregnant adolescents are preeclampsia and eclam­p­sia, which increase the risk of maternal and fetal mor­ta­li­ty. Re­gar­ding the neonatal outcomes, it has been de­mon­stra­ted that newborns from adolescent patients have a higher risk of preterm birth, low birth weight and stillbirth. All these com­pli­ca­tions may be due to the physical and biological im­ma­tu­rity, but also may be the result of the lack of antenatal care. We performed a retrospective study in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University Emergency Hos­pi­tal Bucharest between 30 September 2020 and 30 Sep­tem­ber 2022. The study included three adolescents who gave birth and were declared dead in our unit, and a control group of five adult patients with the same characteristics. The aim of the study was to establish the incidence and the risk factors of mortality among adolescents compared to adult women. The neonatal status was established by neonatology team. The results showed that the incidence of maternal mortality is higher in adolescent patients com­pared to the adult ones as reported to all patients who gave birth. The patients aged between 35 and 40 years old had the highest rate of mortality, followed by the group of patients aged between 18 and 19 years. The lack of antenatal care had an important significance in both groups. Fetal mortality was similar in both adolescent and adult groups.