Abstract
Author(s): Astrit M. Gashi
Introduction and Objective. Teenage pregnancy and birth have always been complex issues. In addition to health-related problems, there are also legal and social aspects of teenage pregnancy. In the world, there are thousands of couples who conceive and give birth without a plan. This happens for many reasons, such as: the lack of sexual education, the lack of information about contraception, high cost of contraception, poverty, the lack of education, rural origin, etc. These factors directly or indirectly affect an increase in pregnancies and births in this age group. The fertility rate in adolescent girls is the number of births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 years. The main purpose of this study was to determine the birth rate among teenage girls in Kosovo. Material and Methods. This was a retrospective study. The data were collected from a database of the Kosovo Agency of Statistics. The analysis involved a nine-year period (2007– 2015). The participants were girls aged 15 to 19 years who have given one or more births. The data were calculated using the MedCalc statistical software. Results. In Kosovo, during nine years (2007–2015), there were a total of 277,596 live births, of which 9,200 (31.3%) were births given by teenage girls. For this period, the adolescent birth rate was 33 per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 years, P<.0001 (95% confidence interval (CI) of observed proportion; 30.09 to 36.01). The average age of the study participants was 17.47 years, (SD ± 1.09); P < .0001 (95% confidence interval CI for mean; 16.90 to 18.03). This study shows that the number of births among teenage girls varied in 2007–2015, but a general downward trend was observed. There were differences in the percentage of pregnant teenage girls depending on their place of residence and level of education. Conclusion. The number of births among teenage girls varied in 2007–2015, but a general downward trend was observed. Also, differences were noted in the percentage of teenage births depending on the place of residence and level of education. The probability that a teenage girl from a village gives birth at this age is twice as high as in the case of a teenage girl from a city. The probability that a teenage girl with low education gives birth at this age is 5 times higher than in the case of a teenage girl with a higher level of education.