SynthesisPloS one2018
Complications associated with adolescent childbearing in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Early Marriage, Preterm Birth, and School Dropout: An Intergenerational Cycle of Risk?American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Well-care visit attendance among children of adolescent mothers in South Africa: a theory-informed mixed-methods study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Survival analysis of under-five mortality predictors: evidence from the 2011 and 2022/23 mozambique demographic and health surveys.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Time to first birth and its determinants among female youths in Ethiopia using accelerated failure time shared frailty models.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Prevalence and associated factors of Somali teenage pregnancy: a multilevel analysis using the evidence from the demographic and health survey.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Article
- Psychosocial determinants of contraceptive desire and use among sexually-active adolescent girls in Kenya and Nigeria: implications for girl-centered contraceptive programs.Contraception and reproductive medicine · 2025Article
- Protocol for a prospective cohort study on pre-eclampsia risk prediction in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Changing patterns of education, marriage and fertility in Chinese adolescents: a systematic synthesis of national and subnational population data from 1990 to 2020.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- Spatial distribution and predictors of early childbearing among Ethiopian women: evidence from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Changes in the contributions of risk factors to under-five mortality in low- and lower-middle-income countries (1997-2022): an analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2025Article
- Prevalence and Determinants of Early Adolescent Childbearing in High Maternal Mortality Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multilevel Analysis of DHS Data.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2025Article
- Formative research to optimize pre-eclampsia risk-screening and prevention (PEARLS): study protocol.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Adverse obstetrical outcomes among adolescents in North Wollo Zone Governmental hospitals, Northern Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Prevalence, determinants, and complications of adolescent pregnancy: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.AJOG global reports · 2025Review
- 'Support me like a child, respect me like an adult': a qualitative study on pregnancy experiences of adolescents in Zambia.npj women's health · 2025Article
- Adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes among Palestinian adolescent mothers in the West Bank: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Motherhood and mental health of adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Obstetric, foetal and neonatal outcomes in adolescent pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa: Systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo 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.
methodsThe 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.
resultsEighteen 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 <18 years old. All included studies were of either moderate or low quality. Adolescents had an increased risk of low birth weight, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, preterm birth and maternal and perinatal mortality. We found a lower, nonsignificant risk of stillbirth and for small for gestational age babies among the young mothers.
conclusionIn this systematic review, the findings indicate that young maternal age is associated with some unfavorable outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. High quality observational studies that adjust for sociodemographic factors are lacking.
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