Depression and history of suicide attempts as risk factors for pregnancy in Bolivian adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescent pregnancy has long-term effects on the mother, the newborn and even in later stages of the life cycle. Furthermore, depression and suicide attempt rates are high among adolescent girls but few studies have addressed the impact of these factors on the occurrence of pregnancy among adolescents. Objective: Examine if depression and suicide attempts are associated risk factors for pregnancy among adolescent girls in Bolivia. Methods: 645 adolescent girls (ages 9-19) registered as patients in a community-based hospital in La Paz, Bolivia between January 2010 and November 2011 completed a questionnaire focused on obstetric, psychiatric, social, and behavioral health issues. Depression was measured with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The results were comparatively analyzed between the participants who were pregnant (cases) and non-pregnant (controls). Results: Findings suggest that depression may be a key mechanism accounting for pregnancy among adolescent girls. In addition to having a history of depression and suicide attempts, being a victim of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse during childhood-adolescence, contraception use, a reported history of anxiety disorders, a lower education, and living in an impoverished household were also associated with adolescent pregnancy. Conclusions: Optimizing mental health screenings and early treatment of depression can mitigate the risk of pregnancy in adolescents