Adolescent girls and their babies: achieving optimal birthweight. Gestational weight gain and pregnancy outcome in terms of gestation at delivery andinfant birth weight: a comparison between adolescents under 16 and adult women

Aims Pregnancy amongst under 16s has been reported to result in worse outco mes for the baby, including low birthweight. This study aimed to find out w hether the under 16s need to gain more weight during pregnancy to avoid thi s outcome. Method A retrospective case control study of pregnancy outcomes in girls de livering before the age of 16 and women delivering aged 25-30. Data was col lected from medical case notes, including maternal age, pregnancy weight ga in and infant birth weight. Results Although weight gain amongst under 168 was similar to that in the c ontrol group, average birthweight of babies born to under 16s was less than in the older group. For both girls and older women greater weight gain in pregnancy did result in higher birth weights. Discussion As younger girls are still growing it may be necessary for them to achieve a greater pregnancy weight gain in order to achieve a satisfacto ry birth weight.