Risk factors for pregnancy among adolescent girls in Ecuador's Amazon basin : a case-control study

• Objective. To examine risk factors for pregnancy among adolescent girls in the Amazonbasin of Ecuador.Methods. A matched case-control study with cases and controls identified within a community-based demographic and health survey was conducted in Orellana, Ecuador, from Mayto November 2006. A questionnaire focused on socioeconomic status, family structure, education,reproductive health, and childhood-adolescent trauma was applied. Conditional logisticregression was used to adjust for potential confounders.Results. Respondents included 140 cases and 262 controls. Factors associated with increasedrisk of adolescent pregnancies through multivariate analysis were: sexual abuse duringchildhood-adolescence (odds ratio (OR) 3.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–8.68);early sexual debut (OR 8.51, 95% CI 1.12–64.90); experiencing periods without mother andfather (OR 10.67, 95% CI 2.67–42.63); and living in a very poor household (OR 15.23, 95%CI 1.43–162.45). Another two factors were statistically associated in the bivariate analysis:being married or in a consensual union (OR 44.34, 95% CI 17.85–142.16) and not being enrolledin school at the time of the interview (OR 6.31, 95% CI 3.70–11.27). For a subsampleof sexually initiated adolescents, “non-use of contraception during first sexual intercourse”was also found to be a risk factor (OR 4.30, 95% CI 1.33–13.90).Conclusion. The study found that early sexual debut, non-use of contraception during firstsexual intercourse, living in a very poor household, having suffered from sexual abuse duringchildhood-adolescence, and family disruption (living extended periods of life without both parents)were associated with adolescent pregnancy in Orellana.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Reproduktionsmedicin och gynekologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Pregnancy in adolescence

sexual violence

contraception; family

risk factors

Ecuador

Obstetrics and gynaecology

Obstetrik och gynekologi

obstetrik och gynekologi

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)