Welcome to Pregnancy Guide
Teenage Pregnancy In Canada Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
You may also listen to this article by using the following controls.
Protecting Yourself and Your Baby - Teen Pregnancy and Health Risks
from:Teen pregnancy and health risks to both mother and infant are unfortunately closely related. In general, infants born to adolescent mothers are at a higher risk of accidental injury and poisoning, complications of prematurity, learning disabilities and cognitive problems, minor acute infections, sudden infant death syndrome. Also, rates of premature birth and low birth weight are higher among teenage mothers.
Teen pregnancy and health risks go hand in hand in girls 14 years old and younger because of an underdeveloped pelvis which can lead to difficulties in the childbirth process. In industrialized nations, this situation can be resolved with a Cesarean section. In developing nations, however, which have high rates of adolescent pregnancy, medical services are scarce and problems during childbirth can lead to eclampsia, obstetric fistula, infant mortality, or maternal death.
Another reason that teen pregnancy and health risks are closely associated is due to lack of knowledge of proper behavior; pregnant adolescents tend to have very poor eating habits, do not take vitamins and may smoke, drink and do drugs while they are pregnant, and this may lead to their baby being born with health problems or being stillborn. Statistics show that teenagers are also less likely to be of adequate pre-pregnancy weight, which increases the risk of having a baby with low birth weight.
Looking at some statistics regarding teen pregnancy and health risks, in 2002, 9.6% of 15-19 year old mothers had a baby of low birth weight, while only 7.8% of mothers of any age had babies that weighed less than 5.5 pounds. For pregnant adolescents that are younger, the risk is even greater; 11.3% of mothers aged 15 had a low birth weight baby. These underweight babies may have organs that are not fully developed, which can lead to things like respiratory distress syndrome, bleeding in the brain, blindness, and intestinal problems.
Furthermore, the relationship between teen pregnancy and health risks is dependent on the fact that pregnant adolescents often do not receive early and regular prenatal care, putting both the mother and the baby at risk. In 2002, 6.6 percent of 15-19 year-old mothers got late or no prenatal care; this is in comparison with 3.6% of all age groups. This is even more serious because an adolescent mother is at a greater risk for pregnancy complications such as anemia and high blood pressure, and these risks are even greater for adolescents under 15 years of age. Adolescents in this young age group are more than twice as likely to die of pregnancy complications as mothers between the ages of 20 to 24.
Out of 12 million cases annually, 3 million are the teens affected by sexually transmitted diseases. If the mother is affected by an STD, these can cause serious health risks to her child as well; syphilis can cause death of the infant, besides causing blindness and death of the mother, and HIV can be fatal to both mother and child.
Teenage Pregnancy In Canada Specific links
Teenage Pregnancy In Canada News
Baby became blessing - Montreal Gazette
Her daughter's pregnancy at age 12 was a difficult time for the family, but it produced what might be the only rallying point for a feuding mother and daughter. Abi, in her 40s, lives with her daughter, now 19, and her granddaughter, 7. Since her ...
Read more...Sarah Palin and the Politics of Elitism -- II - Nolanchart.com
Sarah Palin just won't go away. The election is now two weeks behind us, and the news media can't seem to get enough of her. Last week she was interviewed in her Wasilla kitchen by Fox's Greta van Susteren (while making moose chili), and by NBC's ...
Read more...Quadruplets facts - Reading Eagle
•Quadruplets or quads are a set of four offspring born at one birth. •Quadruplets can be identical (monozygotic), fraternal (multizygotic) or a combination of both. They also can be all male, all female or a combination. •Fully monozygotic ...
Read more...California is cutting education funding at its own peril - Los Angeles Times
With California's budget now facing an $11-billion shortfall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed billions of dollars in spending cuts, most of them aimed at the state's already beleaguered schools, colleges and universities. The governor's ...
Read more...UNTAPPED RICHES - Der Spiegel
With its rich deposits of oil, diamonds and zinc, Greenland is joining the race for new natural resources. Many Greenlanders hope the island's untapped wealth will pave the way to independence. Aleqa was the first born child in a family from ...
Read more...Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Egypt Today
A girl riding a galloping horse through heavy traffic on Ahmed Orabi Street may not be a common sight, but it is the opening scene Egyptian-Canadian director Tahani Rached chose for her latest film, the critically acclaimed El-Banat Dol (These Girls ...
Read more...Register for FREE - Wall Street Journal
Please register to gain free access to WSJ tools. An account already exists for the email address entered. As bizarre as it may seem, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin ’s presidential ambitions for 2012 hang to a considerable degree on her state’s U.S ...
Read more...