@Article{, title={Adverse Health Outcomes of Neonates Born to Adolescent Mothers in Hilla City Babylon Province, Iraq.}, author={Sijal Fadhil Farhood Makki Al Joborae and Fakat Alola Ghanim Jawad}, journal={Medical Journal of Babylon مجلة بابل الطبية}, volume={14}, number={4}, pages={714 -723}, year={2017}, abstract={Babylon Governorate is the fifth most densely populated governorate in Iraq and has undergone significant demographic changes over the proceeding decades viz. the regression of the age of females who marry very early in adolescence. This trend has impacted the neonatal health of their offspring in the region. There is mounting evidence that this is linked to adverse neonatal outcomes including intrauterine retardation of fetal growth, premature birth, weight which is inappropriate for gestational age, and neonatal morbidity manifested by such illnesses as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), hemolysis, neonatal jaundice and sepsis. This descriptive cross sectional study, therefore was done aiming to observe the adverse outcomes of neonates born to adolescent mothers (10-19) years in Al-Hilla city, Babylon Province and to elucidate whether under- age child birth impacts neonatal outcome. The study found that pregnancy in adolescence is associated with high rates of dangerous and adverse neonatal outcomes. The mean and standard deviation of current maternal age and maternal age at marriage (year) were (17.54±1.96), (15.46±2.11) respectively, the mean birth weight of neonates born to adolescent mothers was 2659.75±630.1 and the mean gestational age of neonates at birth was 37.22±2.18.There was a significantly increased risk of LBW (33%), preterm birth (28.5%), neonatal jaundice (31.5%), admission to NICU/SCBU was (54.0%), RCU (3.0%) and general hospital wards (13.0%).

} }