Temporal trends in adolescent pregnancies in Lombardy, Italy: 1996–2010

ABSTRACT

Objectives Data from southern European countries concerning teenage pregnancy have not been properly analysed so far. We provide the temporal trend of adolescent pregnancy rates in Lombardy, Northern Italy.

Methods Using the hospital discharge register (1996–2010), teenage pregnancy-related admission rates per 1000 girls aged 13 to 19 years, residing in Lombardy, were computed. Miscarriage-, induced abortion-, and delivery ratios/100 pregnancies, and caesarean section ratio/100 deliveries, were calculated.

Results The pregnancy rate increased from 9.07 in 1996–2000 to 10.20 in 2001–2005, and remained at that level (10.27) in 2006–2010. However, the rates by country of birth (native Italian and non-native Italian) showed a steady decline in 2003–2010, when data about residents in Lombardy, categorised by sex, age and country of birth, were available. The induced abortion rate rose from 5.38/1000 to 5.55/1000, then decreased slightly in 2006–2010. The abortion ratio/100 pregnancies diminished from 59.3 in 1996–2000 to 50.3 in 2006–2010.

Conclusions Between 1996 and 2010, the overall teenage pregnancy rate has risen in Lombardy. When the rates were calculated separately for adolescents born in Italy and immigrants, the trends reverted in the period 2003–2010: in both groups pregnancy- and birth rates steadily declined. Pregnancy-, abortion-, and birth rates in non-native Italians, after having dropped, are all still much higher than those among native Italians. Because the number of non-native Italian adolescent girls markedly increased over the last two decades, their group – with decreasing, but still higher, birth- and abortion rates – has caused the observed rise in those rates when all adolescents residing in Lombardy are considered indistinctly.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• Pregnancy rate
• Induced-abortion rate
• Birth rate
• Italy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank Dr Carlo Zocchetti, Lombardy Region, Health Directorate, for providing data.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the paper.

This study was done under the auspices of the ‘Società Lombarda di Ostetricia e Ginecologia’. It was partially funded by the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, in the framework of ‘Fondi Ricerca Corrente’.