Parto de adolescentes

PESQUISA / RESEARCH

Atenção Médica à Gestação e ao Parto de Mães Adolescentes
Medical Care for Teenage Mothers During Pregnancy and at Delivery
Heloisa Bettiol1; Marco A. Barbieri1; Uilho A. Gomes 2; Liu Yao Wen1; Patricia M. dos Reis1; Telma M. Chiaratti1; Valéria Vasconcellos1 & Rosalina M. Yamawaki1 BETTIOL, H.; BARBIERI, M. A.; GOMES, U. A.; WEN, 1 Y.; REIS, P. M.; CHIARATTI, T. M; VASCONCELLOS, V. & YAMAWAKI, R. M. Medical Care for Teenage Mothers During Pregnancy and at Delivery. Cad. Saúde Públ, Rio de Janeiro, 8 (4): 404-413, oct/dec, 1992. Ninety-eight percent of all live births occuring in the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo (Brazil), from June 1, 1978 to May 30, 1979 were studied, for a total of 8,878 single-delivery infants, 6,750 of whom were from this town. An increase in the proportion of teenage mothers in Ribeirão Preto (14.1%) was observed in relation to a study carried out ten years before (11.7%). Maternal age of less than 20 years was associated with more unfavorable perinatal health indicators with respect to medical care and delivery. This situation was more evident among teenage mothers from underprivileged social classes, showing that the group of teenage mothers is not homogeneous but presents different risk rates for perinatal health according to the social strata of which the group is composed. Keywords: Birth Weight; Medical Care; Teenage Pregnancy

INTRODUÇÃO Muitos autores têm estudado o impacto do peso ao nascer sobre os níveis de morbidade e mortalidade na infância, pois esta variável tem sido reconhecida como o parâmetro mais importante relacionado com a doença e a morte no primeiro ano de vida (Butler & Alberman, 1969; Puffer & Serrano, 1975; Teruel et al., 1975; Barros-Filho, 1976; Eisner et al., 1979; Monteiro, 1979; Benício, 1983; Barros et al., 1984; Barbieri, 1985; Puffer & Serrano, 1987; Almeida, 1988). Apesar das limitações apontadas a essa medida, como, por exemplo, a de que um dado peso de nascimento pode