TITLE:
Adolescent Pregnancy: Epidemiological Survey in Schools and Obstetrical Outcomes in Douala (Cameroon)
AUTHORS:
Essome Henri, Eposse Ekoube Charlotte, Egbe Obinchemti Thomas, D. C. Kedy Koum, Halle Ekane Gregory, Nana Njamen Théophile, Penda Ida Calixte, Boten Merlin, Tocki Toutou Grâce, Foumane Pascal
KEYWORDS:
Pregnancy, Adolescence, Clandestine Abortion
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.10 No.9,
September
7,
2020
ABSTRACT: Introduction: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adolescence is the
period of growth between 10 and 19 years of age. Complications from pregnancy
are the second leading cause of death for adolescent girls aged 15 to 19
worldwide. Objective: In order to reduce the phenomenon of early
pregnancy, we set out to determine its prevalence as well as its outcome among
adolescent girls in secondary schools in the Douala 3rd district in
Cameroon. Methodology: To achieve our objective, we conducted an
analytical case-control study from November 08, 2018 to June 26, 2019, in ten
secondary establishments in the Douala 3rd district. Included in the
study were all adolescent girls, students in one of the secondary schools in
the said district who agreed to participate in the study. Data analysis was
done using SPSS 20.0 software. The significance threshold was set at p 0.05. Results: A
total of 445 adolescent girls were selected, including 89 cases and 356
controls. In 87.6% of the cases, the pregnancy was accidental and 58.4% used
voluntary abortion. The univariate analysis of the results showed that the
factor associated with the occurrence of teenage pregnancies was the age above
17 years (OR = 1.44; CI = 1.31 - 1.59) (p = 0.001). Conclusion: At the end of our study, it appeared that early pregnancies exist in
Cameroonian schools with a high rate of 6.57% and an appeal to illegal abortion
(62.9%).