Background: Teenage pregnancy is a public and reproductive health issue globally because of its peculiar high risk nature, its burden is however more in the developing countries. This study assessed the sociodemographic characteristics, obstetric and perinatal outcomes among teenage mothers at a tertiary institution in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross sectional study was conducted over 5years on all parturients whose ages were less than 20years and whose pregnancies were 28weeks and above; and delivered at Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, between 1st May, 2012 and 30th April, 2017. A comparison was made with pregnant women aged between 20years and 34years selected from the first woman in the birth registry who delivered after each study case and satisfied the inclusion criteria as control. Results: Teenage mothers were mostly uneducated and unemployed compared to the control group (P<0.050). The pregnancies of teenage mothers were more associated with complications such as anaemia, 12 (12.6%) vs 1 (1.1%); obstructed labour, 10 (10.5%) vs 2 (2.1%); cephalo-pelvic disproportion, 9(9.4%) vs1 (1.1%); preterm delivery, 22 (23.1%) vs 9 (9.6%); and operative delivery (Caesarean section), 26 (27.4%) vs 13 (13.6%) respectively. Similarly teenage mothers perinatal outcomes were poorer compared with older mothers as they had more cases of neonatal complications (P<0.05). Conclusion:Both the obstetric and perinatal outcomes of teenage mothers were poorer compared to the control group. There is need for concerted efforts by stakeholders to stem the tide of teenage pregnancy in our society.

Introduction There has been an increase in the global prevalence of diabetic polyneuropathy and research evidence suggests that insulin resistance plays an important role in its development and prognosis. However, there seem to be a dearth of information in understanding the likely interplay between beta endorphin, insulin resistance and pain perception especially in the setting of painful diabetic neuropathy. Method This study recruited 120 volunteers divided into four groups (30 per group): group 1 healthy volunteer (control); group 2 DM type 2 without neuropathy (DM group); group 3 DM type 2 with painful neuropathy (DPN group); group 4 DM type 2 without painful neuropathy (DN). All subjects were evaluated for pain threshold and neuropathy using an ischemia-induced pain model and biothesiometer respectively. Their beta-endorphin, glycated hemoglobin, fasting plasma insulin, and HOMA values were determined and means compared using ANOVA. Result Serum beta-endorphin is significantly reduced in DN and DPN (∗p < 0.001) compared with the control and DM group. Also, DPN and DN patients have significantly increased insulin resistance compared to those without neuropathy (∗p < 0.001; ∗p < 0.0001 respectively). There is a significant positive correlation between the pain threshold and beta-endorphin in all the groups except DN group. The correlation between beta-endorphin and insulin resistance was negative and significant in control and DM groups only. Suggestive that the fact that insulin resistance plays an important role in diabetes polyneuropathy, does not alone explain the chronic pain perception noticed in the DPN patients. Conclusion The present study demonstrates that diabetic neuropathy patients have a poor endogenous opioid peptide system which is associated with increased pain perception and high insulin resistance. However, insulin resistance alone does not explain the chronic pain perception noticed in the DPN patients. Thus, further study is required.

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