Complications associated with adolescent childbearing in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Objective To examine whether childbearing before age 18 in Sub-Saharan Africa is associated with increased risk of maternal and child complications through a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Methods The literature on adolescent pregnancy and associated complications in Sub-Saharan Africa was reviewed. A systematic electronic database search in Medline and Embase identified relevant papers. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they had numeric data on maternal mortality, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, preterm birth, low birth weight, small for gestational age, stillbirth, neonatal death or perinatal death. We included studies on adolescents aged 17 years or younger, and with a comparison group of adult women aged between 20 and 35 years. The quality of the articles was assessed. Meta-analyses were conducted when there were at least three included studies with minor clinical heterogeneity in population and outcome measures. Results Eighteen studies met our inclusion criteria. There were many studies from Sub-Saharan Africa with data on the age group 15–19 years old, but few studies had separate data on adolescents