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. 2016 Jan 25;11(1):e0147861.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147861. eCollection 2016.

Adolescent Pregnancy and Attained Height among Black South African Girls: Matched-Pair Prospective Study

Elizabeth A Lundeen  1   2 , Shane A Norris  2 , Reynaldo Martorell  3 , Parminder S Suchdev  3 , Neil K Mehta  3 , Linda M Richter  2   4 , Aryeh D Stein  2   3
Affiliations

Adolescent Pregnancy and Attained Height among Black South African Girls: Matched-Pair Prospective Study

Elizabeth A Lundeen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Importance: The impact of adolescent pregnancy on offspring birth outcomes has been widely studied, but less is known about its impact on the growth of the young mother herself.

Objective: To determine the association between adolescent pregnancy and attained height.

Design: Prospective birth cohort study.

Setting: Cohort members followed from birth to age 20 y in Soweto, South Africa.

Participant: From among 840 Black females with sufficient data, we identified 54 matched pairs, in which a girl who became pregnant before the age of 17 years was matched with a girl who did not have a pregnancy by age 20 y. Pairs were matched on age at menarche and height-for-age z scores in the year before the case became pregnant (mean 15.0 y).

Main outcome measures: The two groups were compared with respect to attained height, measured at mean age 18.5 y.

Results: Mean age at conception was 15.9 years (range: 13.7 to 16.9 y). Mean height at matching was 159.4 cm in the adolescent pregnancy group and 159.3 cm in the comparison group (p = 0.3). Mean attained height was 160.4 cm in the adolescent pregnancy group and 160.3 cm in the comparison group (p = 0.7).

Conclusions: Among Black females in Soweto, South Africa, adolescent pregnancy was not associated with attained height.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Mean height (cm) by age, matched-paired girls in the Birth-to-Twenty Plus Study.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Mean Height-for-age Z score by age, girls in the Birth-to-Twenty Plus study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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