Teenage pregnancy is not a public health problem

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7326.1428

BMJ 2001;323:1428 ( 15 December )

Letters

Teenage pregnancy is not a public health problem

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ We agree with Smith and Pell's interpretation of their own and others' results that first teenage pregnancies are notassociated with adverse outcomes, but we disagree with their conclusionthat the associations they found between second teenage pregnancyand risk of preterm delivery and stillbirth indicate causation.¹The most likely explanation is a combination of inadequate controlfor socioeconomic position, which the authors concede, and differencesin the interval between pregnancies among teenage compared witholdermothers.

Differences in pregnancy spacing cannot be rejected as an explanation, as the authors attempt to do, without its impact inthis study being assessed. Furthermore, the authors do not considerthe possible impact of differences in antenatal care between pregnantteenagers and older women in any of theiranalyses.

Health professionals should not accept without challenge the myth that teenage pregnancy is an important public health problemin the way that . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Teenage pregnancy and risk of adverse perinatal outcomes associated with first and second births: population based retrospective cohort study: Gordon C S Smith and Jill P Pell
BMJ 2001 323: 476. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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