Obstetric outcome of teenage pregnancies from 2002 to 2008: the Sheffield experience.

We compared the obstetric outcome of 1,922 teenage pregnant women with a control population of 10,550 women aged 20-39 years. The teenage women had a significantly higher normal vaginal delivery rate (65% vs 45%; RR 1.44, 95% CI: 1.38-1.49; p < 0.001) and a lower operative delivery rate compared with control women (elective caesarean section: 1.7% vs 4.9%, RR 0.347, 95% CI: 0.25-0.49, p < 0.001; emergency caesarean section: 13.3% vs 22.9%, RR 0.58, 95% CI: 0.51-0.65, p < 0.001; instrumental delivery: 19.3% vs 26.3%, RR 0.73, 95% CI: 0.66-0.81, p < 0.001). There was no difference in the pre-term delivery rate or in the stillbirth rate between the two groups. When stratified further, there was no difference in the pre-term delivery rate and low birth weight rate between teenage mothers aged 13-17 years and those aged 17-19 years. Teenage pregnant women have better obstetric performance in terms of mode of delivery without an increased risk of stillbirth or prematurity compared with older women.