Are teenage pregnancies at high risk? A comparison study in a developing country.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare obstetric and perinatal outcome in teenage and non-teenage pregnancies. METHODS: We analyzed retrospective data of 15,498 pregnant patients who delivered from March 2008 to April 2009 in Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, a referral tertiary care and teaching hospital in Pondicherry, South India. Girls aged ≤ 19 years were compared with pregnancy outcomes in women aged > 19 years who delivered in the same hospital during the study period. A total of 620 teenage pregnancies were compared with 14,878 non-teenage women. The obstetric and perinatal outcome was compared in the study and control groups using t test with Yates correction. We calculated Odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence intervals(CI) and p values; p < 0.005 was considered significant. RESULTS: The incidence of teenage pregnancy in the study was 4%. A signicant proportion of teenage mothers were in their first pregnancies and their mean age was 18.04 years. Our study showed a significantly higher incidence of anaemia, past dates, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), normal vaginal delivery, episiotomy, low birth weight, and a significantly lower incidence of caesarean sections/perineal tears in teenage mothers compared to other mothers. In contrast, the incidence of hypertension, intrauterine growth restriction of fetus, pre-term labour and postpartum haemorrhage were similar in both the groups. CONCLUSION: The data in our study should throw more light on the current thinking of the obstetrical problems facing teenage mothers, in which some of our results support and others refute several long held beliefs about the risks in teenage pregnancy. Early booking, adequate antenatal care and delivery by trained people should improve the obstetric and perinatal outcome in teenage pregnancies, which is still an unresolved problem inspite of various government programmes in developing countries.

A review of fallopian tube carcinoma over 20 years (1971-90) in Pondicherry.

Nine cases of tubal carcinoma were found in a period of 20 years in JIPMER Hospital among approximately 9,000 gynaecological malignancies. Most patients were diagnosed as malignant ovarian tumour, but two cases presented unusually, one as Meig's syndrome and another as acute hemoperitoneum. This often stressed symptom of amber discharge or hydrops tubae profluens could not be elicited in any patient. All the patients underwent surgical treatment and radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The period of follow up ranged from two months to four and half years.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome complicating pregnancy: a case report with review of literature.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) affects women of child-bearing age. There are little reported data on the outcomes of pregnancy in women with POTS. The most common mode of delivery reported in the literature is the caesarean section. Here we describe a woman with POTS who delivered vaginally without any complications and present a comprehensive review of the literature on pregnancy in POTS.