Teenage pregnancy among care experienced young people in Fife: a data linkage study

Abstract

Background: Care experienced young people (CEYP) are thought to be at increased risk of experiencing teenage pregnancy but little is known about teenage pregnancy rates among CEYP in Scotland. Objectives: The study used data linkage techniques to compare teenage pregnancy outcomes for CEYP in Fife with those of their non-care experienced but similarly deprived peers. Methods: Social care administrative data for 1119 females looked after by Fife Council between October 1991 and March 2015 were linked to NHS teenage pregnancy data. Probabilistic linkage was used to match CEYP demographic data (names, sex, date of birth and postcodes) to the Community Health Index (CHI) number. The CHI number was used to identify teenage pregnancy outcomes from national Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR) datasets, SMR01 and SMR02. Outcomes for CEYP were compared with a group of non-care experienced peers from a similar socioeconomic background. Three non-care experienced young people (non-CEYP) were selected for every CEYP, matched by year of birth, sex and socioeconomic status at birth. Results: An acceptable match to a CHI number was achieved for 90.5% (1013/1119) of CEYP. 889 CEYP were fully matched to 2664 non-CEYP. CEYP were more than twice as likely as non-CEYP to experience a live birth before age 20 (RR 2.32, 95% CI 2.06 to 2.62). 38.4% (341/889) of CEYP had a live birth before age 20, compared with 16.5% (440/2664) of non-CEYP (p<0.001).

CEYP were 33% more likely than non-CEYP to experience a termination of pregnancy before age 20 (RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.66). 11.2% (100/889) of CEYP experienced a termination of pregnancy before age 20, compared with 8.5% (226/2664) of non-CEYP (p<0.05).

Conclusions: CEYP were significantly more likely to experience teenage abortion and teenage childbirth than their non-care experienced but similarly deprived peers. High levels of teenage childbirth were observed among CEYP.