Babies of teenage mothers are more likely to be premature and experience health issues in the first month than babies born to women just a few years older, a new report has revealed.
Teenage mums are also more likely to live in Australia's lowest socio-economic areas (42 per cent) compared to mums aged 20-24 years (34 per cent), according to the report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The report, published on Wednesday, showed the numbers of teenage mothers had dropped from 11800 in 2005 to 8200 in 2015, with nearly three-quarters of teenage mothers aged 18 or 19.
Compared to babies born to mothers aged 20-24 years, more babies born to teenage mothers were premature, had a low birth weight and needed admission to special care nursery.
Despite the negative outcomes for babies, the report showed positive trends for teenage mothers including more spontaneous labours, lower caesarean section rates and less diabetes for teenage mothers.
"The difference between teenage mothers and those in the slightly older age group is due in part to a large number of teenage mothers living in low socio-economic areas," says AIHW report author Dr Fadwa Al-Yaman.
Dr Al-Yaman said the differences could also be due to the higher smoking rates in pregnancy, with a quarter of teenage mothers smoking after 20 weeks of pregnancy compared to 1 in six of those aged 20 to 24.
A quarter of teenage mothers identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, with Indigenous teenage mothers almost twice as likely to smoke during pregnancy as non-Indigenous mothers.
Dr Al-Yaman said risk factors were highly interlinked, with issues such a smoking, low levels of education and employment being concentrated in remote areas.
The teenage birth rate in metro areas is less than half that of regional areas, she said.
"There is a strong link between socio-economic disadvantage and living in remote areas," she told AAP.
"You need to have access to transport, access to health services and if you have to pay for your transport, sometimes over an hour's worth, it's going to take more of your welfare money."
Australian Associated Press
