Adolescent motherhood and neonatal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from 31 countries

Sarah Neal, University of Southampton
Amos R. Channon, University of Southampton
Jesman Chintsanya, University of Southampton

This study provides a comprehensive, multi-country analysis of the association between adolescent birth and neonatal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular we wish to particularly focus on how risk patterns differ for younger and older adolescents. We also carry our separate analysis adjusting for a range of possible confounding factors in order to ascertain whether the association is driven by confounding factors. We use Demographic and Household Surveys (DHS) from 31 sub-Saharan countries carried out since 2005. We carry out logistic regression with neonatal mortality as the outcome variable and age groups <16, 16/17 and 18/19 years as explanatory variables . We also carry out multivariate logistic regression to adjust for socio-economic, biodemographic and health care utilisation variables. All adolescent age groups were associated with increased risk of neonatal mortality, but risk was greatest for the youngest. Increased odds remained significant after adjustment for confounding factors.