The effect of adolescent and advanced-age pregnancies on maternal and early neonatal clinical data

Abstract

Background

This study compared early post-natal clinical data of adolescent and advanced maternal-age mothers and their infants and early post-natal clinical data of mothers 20–34 years old who delivered and their infants.

Methods

This retrospective study included 1676 newborns who were born at or after 25 gestational weeks and 1638 puerperal women who gave birth at the Health Sciences University Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Health Practice and Research Center Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic between January 2017 and January 2018. Maternal demographic and clinical data and neonatal demographic, anthropometric, and early delivery room clinical data of the study group patients were transcribed from clinical file records to electronic records.

Results

We found that the intensive care admission/2nd- or 3rd-level intensive care referral rates of newborns of advanced-age and adolescent mothers were significantly higher than those of the control group. No significant differences were found between intensive care admission and referral rates among age groups when only healthy pregnancies were considered. Cesarean sections, abortion and smoking rates of mothers with advanced maternal age; LGA rates of newborns of women in this age group; macrosomic rates; and free-flow oxygen requirements were significantly higher than in the other age groups. In advanced-age healthy pregnancies, abortion rates were the same as those in the control group, and there was no significant difference in the LGA rate or free-flow oxygen requirement of newborns in this group. Additionally, the 1-min APGAR scores of the newborns of advanced-age mothers were significantly lower than those of the control newborns, and the pCO₂ values measured in the cord or blood gases obtained within the first hour were significantly higher. In healthy pregnancies, no significant differences in APGAR scores or pCO₂ values were found between age groups. The cord or blood gas lactate values of newborns who were born from adolescent pregnancies taken within the first hour were significantly higher than those of newborns born in other age groups; considering only healthy adolescent pregnancies, the results did not change. Newborns born from healthy adolescent pregnancies had significantly lower resuscitation needs than those born from other age groups.

Conclusions

Newborns who are born from adolescent and advanced-age pregnancies are more likely to have risky early post-natal clinical findings than are newborns who were born from mothers 20–34 years of age. The early period clinical approach and follow-up of newborns born from adolescent and advanced-age maternal pregnancies are very important for pediatric management.

Keywords:

• Advanced-age pregnancy
• adolescent-age pregnancy
• early neonatal outcome
• cord blood gases
• pregnancy
• neonate

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval for this study was obtained from Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital Ethics Committee (2017-07-17). The need for informed consent from participants was waived by approving the ethical committee of Health Sciences University, Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital. All methods are performed in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Furthermore, confidentiality was not breached as the checklist developed is anonymous and does not identify mothers’ or babies' personal information.

Author contributions

All authors have significantly contributed to this research article from the beginning to the final preparation of this manuscript. PYT, MT, and OS involved in the acquisition of data, analysis of data, interpretation of data, and finally in the preparation of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the author, P. Yavuz upon reasonable request.