Prevalence and Location of Obstetric Lacerations in Adolescent Mothers.

STUDY

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to describe prevalence and location of obstetric lacerations in adolescents.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

We performed an analysis of the Consortium on Safe Labor database including tertiary care university-affiliated urban hospitals.

PARTICIPANTS

All primiparous women who delivered vaginally were included.

INTERVENTIONS: Vaginal and perineal lacerations were compared between age groups 15 or younger, 16-21, 22-34, 35-39, and older than 40 years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome measures included vaginal, perineal, labial, and periurethral lacerations. χ2 and Fisher exact tests were used as appropriate, with P < .05 considered significant.

RESULTS

A total of 9777 patients were included in the analysis. Young adolescents and adolescents had significantly higher rates of labial and periurethral lacerations compared with individuals aged 22-34 years. The prevalence of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears increased with age.

CONCLUSION

Adolescent primiparous women are less likely to have severe perineal obstetric tears, but have higher rates of labial and periurethral tears.