Teenagers 'risk premature babies'

Pregnant teenagers are more likely to give birth prematurely and have a small baby than women in their 20s, says an Irish research team.

Fourteen to 17-year-olds were also more likely to give birth early if they were having a second child, a study of more than 50,000 women in England found.

The findings, reported in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, highlighted the importance of routine medical checks.

The team said more studies were needed to find out why the young were at risk.

The study included all women aged between 14 and 29 who had given birth in north-west England over a two-year period.

In all, 3,600 of those were aged between 14 and 17, the researchers said.

More than a third of them came from the most socially deprived areas.

The study also found teenage mothers were also more likely to be underweight.

Those aged under 17 were 21% more likely to have a premature baby with their first pregnancy and 93% more likely to have their second baby early.

There was also a link with younger mothers and having a baby with a low birth weight.

Researcher Dr Ali Khashan, from University College Cork, in the Republic of Ireland, said it might be that the risk of premature birth in the young teenagers was related to "biological immaturity".

"It is also possible that the increased risk of poor pregnancy outcome in the second teenage pregnancy is related to numerous complicating factors such as greater social deprivation and less prenatal care," he added.

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