Teenage Pregnancy Patterns and Experience in SidoonTown, River Nile state, Sudan, 2022

Abstract

Background: Teenage is a stage of physical and mental human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. Teenage pregnancy is a global public health problem that affects the physical and emotional health.Teenage pregnancy is linked with many risk factors that affect the health of the mother and the outcome, as spontaneous abortions, as well as neonatal and maternal mortality and morbidity.Objective: to study issues related to teenage pregnancy patterns and experience. Methodology: This study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional community-based design. The study was conducted among a sample of 205 women using the simple random sampling method of the teenagers living inSidoon Townof the River Nile state. The data required for the purposes of the study were collected using structured face-to-face interviews. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 23 and suitable descriptive and inferential statistical methodswere used, and P < .05 was accepted for statistical significance. Results: The majority of the participants (78%) were aged between 17-19 years, and those got married and had their first pregnancy between 14-16 years were 79% and 84.4% respectively. About half of the participants (53.2%) didn’t complete their primary level school education. The results also indicated that 40.5% of the participantswere subjected to forced marriage experience, whereas 59.5% had the right to choose. Pregnancy was experienced by 176 (85.9%) of the women, out of whom 159 (86.9%) delivered their babies vaginally, while C/S birth was found among 24(13.1%) of them; abortion was experienced by 25.4% of them, most of which happened without a determined cause. Planning of pregnancy and using of family planning (FP) was found among 78(38.5%) of the participants. The majority of them used hormonal FP without medical advice and 62 (78.8%) used combined pills. Teenage pregnancy associated morbidity wasfound among 59 women (gestational diabetes, pregnancy induced hypertension, preterm labor, post-partum depression and infection: 19,13,24,3 and1 respectively). Significant correlation was found between passive smoking and history of the abortion among women,P = 0.05.
Conclusion: Teenage pregnancy is linked with the participants’ morbidity. Early pregnancy interferes with the continuation of the woman’s education, and lack of awareness related to use of FP methods used was seen. Recommendation:Health education for the study community is needed to enhance their health awareness.