![]() This sudden increase in blood pressure after the 20th week of pregnancy is not preventable and requires very close monitoring by an obstetrician. ![]() When high blood pressure develops into a life-threatening condition called preeclampsia, both mother and unborn baby are at risk. Gestational hypertension, or high blood pressure caused by pregnancy, can cause premature delivery or low birth weight of the baby. It’s imperative for teenage girls to seek out qualified prenatal care to ensure they are receiving an adequate intake of nutrients and prenatal vitamins to prevent iron and other nutritional deficiencies. Approximately 14 percent of pregnant women develop anemia, and the condition occurs in higher rates in pregnant adolescents because of “the insufficient amount of healthy caloric intake needed during pregnancy” as well as “the increased iron requirements associated with the expansion of the red cell mass during adolescence.” More pregnant 15- to 19-year-olds develop anemia than pregnant women from 20 to 44. Teens younger than age 15 are especially vulnerable to anemia, or low blood iron, and pregnancy-related high blood pressure.Īnemia is a low concentration of hemoglobin in the blood, which can cause extreme tiredness and other complications. Teens often don’t get prenatal care soon enough, one of the many reasons pregnant teens and their babies are at higher risk of health problems than older pregnant women. Because of the health risks to mothers and babies, as well as the substantial social and economic costs, the CDC lists teen pregnancy prevention as one of the agency’s “top seven priorities, a ‘winnable battle’ in public health and of paramount importance to health and quality of life for our youth.” 1. Some teenagers, equipped with the support and love of their families and communities, manage to move through this often traumatic experience making healthy decisions for everyone involved, but the odds are stacked against teen parents and their offspring. The CDC reports the average age for a woman to have her first menstrual cycle is 12.5 years, so pregnancy is certainly possible if puberty occurs prior to age 13. “Teen pregnancy” generally refers to a pregnant girl between the ages of 13 and 19. This birth rate of 24.2 per 1,000 women in this age group is much higher than the rate seen in many other developed countries - twice as high as in England, Wales, or Canada, and nine times as high as in the Netherlands or Japan. Although teen birth rates in American girls have declined to the lowest rates seen in seven decades, almost 250,000 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years in 2014, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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