Abstract:
Background: Teenage pregnancy is the biggest killer of young girls worldwide; 1,000,000 teenage girls
die or suffer serious injury, infection or disease due to pregnancy or childbirth every year. It led adolescents
to less educational attainment and high school dropout, economic dependency, poor health and poverty.
Ethiopia has one of the highest teenage fertility rates in Sub-Saharan Africa; however, magnitude of teenage
pregnancy and its associated factors are not well studied.
Objective: This study intends to investigate the magnitude of teenage pregnancy and its associated factors
among school adolescents of Debre Berhan Town, North Shoa Zone Administration, North East Ethiopia,
2021.
Methods: A quantitative institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 518 in school
female adolescents (teenagers) in Debre Berhan Town from April to May 2021. A stratified multistage
sampling technique was employed to select study subjects. Data were collected using a structured
questionnaire. Epi data version 3.1 and SPSS version 20.0 were used for data entry and analysis
respectively. During the analysis of the data, both descriptive and inferential statistics were computed.
Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of teenage pregnancy.
The association between independent and dependent variables were assessed using odd ratios (adjusted odd
ratios) with their corresponding 95% confidence interval. Independent variables that have P-value less than
0.05 were taken as a significant predictor of teenage pregnancy.
Result: Four hundred and ninety five students were involved in the study with a response rate of 95.6%.
Their mean age was 17.6 (± 1.22 SD). The prevalence of teenage pregnancy was 5.1% (95% CI: 3.2-7.1).
Sexual and reproductive health education [AOR=5.397; 95% CI: 1.661-17.533], age at first sex
[AOR=9.164; 95% CI: 1.891-44.413], domestic violence [AOR=4.901; 95% CI: 1.502-15.933] and sexual
and reproductive health services [AOR=2.709; 95% CI: 1.064-6.897] were found to have statistically
significant association with teenage pregnancy.
Conclusion: This study showed that, the prevalence of teenage pregnancy is low in the area compared to
other studies. This might be due to the reason that contraceptive utilization might be increased in the area
and variation in socio-economic & demographic factors. Even if, the prevalence is low in the area compared
to other studies, especial attention is needed. Therefore, school-based sexual and reproductive health
education and service should be strengthened.
