Factors Associated with Adolescents' Risk For Late Entry into Prenatal Care

Abstract

Risk factors for late entry into prenatal care were examined among 533 pregnant adolescents younger than 18. Forty-seven percent entered prenatal care after 12 weeks' gestation. Logistic regression analysis indicated that adolescents who no longer had contact with their baby's father were 4.2 times as likely as those who did to enter prenatal care after the first trimester. Adolescents with no history of abortion were 3.2 times as likely to enter care late as those who had had an abortion. Young women who had not used alcohol in the last 30 days and those with only one sex partner in the last 12 months were more likely than adolescents exhibiting riskier behavior to receive care late (odds ratios of 2.7 and 1.6, respectively). Odds of late entry into care were also elevated for those who were unemployed (1.9), black or white (1.9 and 1.7, respectively) and less educated (1.2).

The Risk for Infant Mortality among Adolescent Childbearing Groups

“…[1][2][3][4] Causes for the poorer birth outcomes in adolescents have been ascribed to lower rates of adequate prenatal care, 5 poor weight gain and nutrition, 6 higher rates of tobacco use, high-risk health behaviors, 7 and socioeconomic background characteristics. 8 For the most part, teen pregnancy and childbearing studies refer to 15-19-year-old mothers and do not often include childbearing in adolescents ,15 years old.…”

Association of preconceptional health care utilization and early initiation of prenatal care

“…1,2 The timing of prenatal care initiation can be influenced by numerous prepregnancy factors, including maternal educational attainment, [1][2][3][4][5][6] age, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] parity, 2,6,7 ethnicity, 3 women's feeling about pregnancy and prenatal care, 6 and insurance. 2,[8][9][10][11] In the last two decades, some investigators have demonstrated the importance of preconceptional care to improve perinatal outcomes.…”

Adolescent and Adult Clients in Prenatal Case Management: Differences in Problems and Interventions Used

“…For this reason, being younger than 18 years old is often used as a criterion for enrollment into PCM, as is required for Nurse-Family Partnership PCM [21][22][23][24]. Several studies indicate that adolescent mothers do not obtain prenatal services or tend to delay initiation of prenatal care [18,19,25]. Despite the known health risks related to adolescent pregnancy [26], the overall breadth of problems experienced by pregnant adolescents nationally remains unclear due to the limited attention given to differences in their underlying social, economic, psychological, or other risk factors.…”

“…Adolescents are particularly at risk during pregnancy, as this time period is often associated with inadequate prenatal care and poor birth outcomes, notably low birthweight and premature birth [18][19][20]. For this reason, being younger than 18 years old is often used as a criterion for enrollment into PCM, as is required for Nurse-Family Partnership PCM [21][22][23][24].…”