Dear Editor |
| This letter is in response to the journal article
titled, "Risks experience during pregnancy
among teenagers in South West Nigeria",
published in Volume 4, No. 1 issue of
International Journal of Collaborative
Research on Internal Medicine & Public
Health during January 2012.1 |
| I appreciate the authors for conducting a
survey-based research on teenage mothers to
determine differences in risks during
pregnancy based on their age, occupation and
stage of pregnancy. However, some details
seem to be missing, especially in materials
and methods, and results sections. The authors
indicated multi-stage sampling procedure to
conduct this study, however details related to
sampling procedures in multiple stages were
not provided. One hundred respondents from
each of the selected four hospitals were used
in this study. But, the details related to total
number of hospitals and teenage mothers in
each hospital were not present to determine
the survey response rate. Moreover, the
sample population of 400 as a true
representation of the teenagers and/or teenage
mothers in the South West Nigeria was
questionable. A weighting factor needs to be
considered for generalizing these results to
teenagers and/or teenage mothers in the South
West Nigeria and elsewhere. |
| The Section B of the Appendix I (survey
questionnaire), which seeks to elicit
information on risks and complications
encountered by teenage mothers does not
provide details about risks by stages of
pregnancy. Many symptoms and
complications during pregnancy overlap the
three trimesters, thereby, clear, distinct
questions of unambiguous nature related to
each trimester is necessary to avoid confusion.
Similarly, the coding for Likert Scale
classification in Section B was not elaborated
in the materials and methods section. The
methodological scoring and calculation of
responses in Likert Scale were absent. Further,
the authors mentioned about content validity
of the questionnaire, but did not provide any
either references or details to support it.
Moreover, though mentioned, the results
related to pre-testing of the questionnaire were
of utmost importance for testing reliability of
the questions in this survey study. In addition,
no information related to non-responses in the
research study was provided. The p values
were not reported in the tables. |
| The results indicated that risks during
pregnancy do not depend on age and
occupation. While these results were unique in
this sample, previous research studies 2, 3 in
developing countries indicated that risks
during pregnancy and birth outcomes depend on age. Risks such as short stature, prolonged
labor and anemia were common among
teenagers under 18 years old; requiring
prompt referrals during the first trimester 3.
Similarly, sexual behavior, contraceptive use 4,
5, knowledge and attitudes towards sexuality 6
play a direct role in risks during teenagers
among these teenagers, which need to be
considered. |
| This research study highlighted a salient
finding that there was no difference in risks
during pregnancy based on age and
occupation of teenagers, however, large
epidemiological studies need to be conducted
to evaluate these results in developing
countries, because this research would not
only minimize costs but also help public
health professionals and health programs in
the developing countries to divert scarce
resources to teenage mothers, especially those
in first and third semesters, rather than to all
teenagers irrespective of their age and
occupation. |
Competing Interests |
| The author has no
competing interests to declare. |
References |
- Olaitan OL, Talabi AE, Olumorin CO,Braimoh KT, Kayode OO, Onigbinde AT.Risks experience during pregnancyamong teenagers in South WestNigeria. International Journal ofCollaborative Research on InternalMedicine & Public Health. 2012;4(1):2-12.
- Chen CW, Tsai CY, Sung FC, et al.Adverse birth outcomes amongpregnancies of teen mothers: age-specificanalysis of national data in Taiwan. ChildCare Health Dev. Mar 2010;36(2):232-240.
- Pratinidhi A, Shrotri A, Shah U. Risk ofteen-age pregnancy in a rural communityof India. Indian J Matern Child Health.Oct-Dec 1990;1(4):134-138.
- Orji EO, Esimai OA. Sexual behavior and contraceptive use among secondaryschool students in Ilesha south westNigeria.J ObstetGynaecol. Apr2005;25(3):269-272.
- Slap GB, Lot L, Huang B, Daniyam CA,Zink TM, Succop PA. Sexual behavior of adolescents in Nigeria: cross sectionalsurvey of secondary school students.BMJ. Jan 4 2003;326(7379):15.
- Buga GA, Amoko DH, NcayiyanaDJ.Adolescent sexual behaviour, knowledgeand attitudes to sexuality among schoolgirls in Transkei, South Africa. East AfrMed J. Feb 1996;73(2):95-100.
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