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Pregnancy in adolescence: The new “epidemic” of developing countries?

Abstract:

Adolescence is a period of transition to adulthood where biological, psychological, and social changes occur, which will affect the development of adult life. Worldwide, it is estimated that there are 1.8 billion adolescents; however, more than half of these adolescents live in developing countries with high levels of poverty. Neurodevelopment in this stage is active and the maturation process of the prefrontal cortex does not end until approximately 25 years old, which explains the risky behavior and impulsivity in adolescents. Pregnancy in adolescence is one of the consequences of this socioeconomic inequity and is associated with multiple maternal-fetal complications. Worldwide, the adolescent fertility rate is 46.7 live births per 1000 women between 15-19 years, but in less developed regions these rates increase to 101.7 live births in Africa and 68 live births in Latin America, representing an important public health problem. In this sense, Latin America and the Caribbean are some of the regions with the lowest percentage of decrease in the last decades and have the highest frequency of teenage pregnancies of global fertility, with an approximate 18%. The low academic instruction, the lack of sexual and reproductive health services, the negative attitude of the population towards the use of contraception, and the lack of knowledge of adolescents are predominant socioeconomic barriers in low-income countries that could explain this behavior; so the objective of this review is to present the most important aspects that influence the high rate of adolescent fertility in developing countries and the strategies underway to combat this problem.