Pregnancy during the teenage years also has implications for
the primary care team in terms of obstetric services. The pregnant
teenager is considered a high-risk obstetric patient because
statistics have shown that maternal and infant mortality, anaemia,
pre-eclampsia and low-birthweight babies are more common
among this age group. However, some commentators have pointed
out that more sophisticated studies, controlling for a range of
factors, have found minimal differences between teenage mothers
and mothers in their twenties. Such findings suggest that
pregnancy and childbirth complications may be attributable to
social and economic factors associated with teenage childbearing,
rather than the effects of physical immaturity. The findings
from a recent study, however, indicated that teenagers have an
increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes independent of
confounding socioeconomic factors. Biological mechanisms for
the poor outcomes of pregnancy in teenage mothers have been
suggested, although it is argued that these are largely based on
speculation rather than research evidence.