Clinical characteristics and morbidity of newborn infants of adolescent mother in universitary hospital

Abstract

Objective: Describe the clinical characteristics and morbity between the adolescent mother’s newborns at University Hospital of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.Methods: Observational study of 220 newborns of mother with age < 19 years old, between April and September of 2003, whose data were obtained by medical records. Fisher exact test was used in order to compare neonatal characteristics according to maternal age. Results:There were 1552 deliveries, 220 (14,2%) from adolescent mothers; 50% were normal deliveries,28,6% forceps and 21,4% cesarean.. The maternal age varied between 14,2 e 18,9 years old(mean =17,3 years), having 33 (15%) an age < 16 years old; 49,6% did not attend prenatal care or attended less than 6 medical appointments. The use of drugs ocurred in 18,6% of the mothers. The birth weight of the newborns varied between 430g to 4335g (3006g ± 587 g);there were 12,3% preterm, 12,7% low birth weight newborns and 12 (5,4 %) small for gestational age. Perinatal asphyxia occurred in 2,2% of the cases and 3,6 % presented congenitalmalformations (multiple malformations, cardiopathy, congenital hip displasia, auricular papiloma,giant hemangioma). There were pathologies in 49,5% of the cases, mainly obstetric trauma, respiratory distress and jaundice, with a mortality rate of 1,8%. Conclusion: There was an absent or incomplete prenatal care in 49% of the mothers, being frequent the use of drugs during gestation. The malformations frequency was similar to the overall population. The prematurity, birth weight less than 1500 g, perinatal asphyxia and mortality were significantly higher among newborns from mothers <16 years old.