Teenage pregnancies on rise, says Maternity Hospital study

ALMOST 30% of all babies born in Ireland are to unmarried, single women, a study of births at the National Maternity Hospital has found.

While the number of teenage mums is also increasing, according to the 30-year analyses of births, the age at which Irish women are having babies has also changed, with the majority of women now choosing to wait until their 30s to have children.

The study, entitled Thirty Year Trends in a Large Irish Obstetric Cohort, looked at birth trends at the hospital between 1968 and 1998. Up to 14% of all births in Ireland take place at Holles Street The study found that in 1968, just 2.5% of children were born to single women in Ireland. By 1998, it had risen to 28.2% nationally and 29% at Holles Street.

Published in yesterday’s Irish Medical Journal the research also found that while the number of women under the age of 20 giving birth is at 5% at Holles Street, national statistics show “a progressively increasing proportion of teenage mothers, with the figure doubling from 3% in 1968 to 6% in 1998”.

Despite this growing number of teenage births, the researchers found that since the late 1960s, women are waiting longer to have their babies. The main childbearing age of women attending Holles Street has moved from the 25-29 age group to the 30-34 age group.

However, less women in their 40s are now giving birth than 30 years ago. The figure has halved since 1968 and a similar pattern has also emerged at national level, with births in the 40-44 age group falling from 6.3% in 1968 to 3.1% by 1998.

“A general trend towards relatively later childbearing and reduced fertility may reflect the fact that many women are in full-time education or developing and consolidating careers in their 20s ” author of the report Colm O’Herlihy, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Holles Street, said.

He said that in addition to a shift towards later childbirth, the decline in the percentage of women delivering in the 20-24 year age group may reflect a general trend towards later childbearing, increased use of contraception and access to abortion outside the State.

“In 1999, the British Office of National Statistics recorded 6,226 abortions in women presenting with Irish addresses and terminations in the 20-24 age group (the predominant cohort) represent 37% of the above total, accounting for 2,301 procedures. More significantly, Irish-based terminations represented almost 12% of the national birth total recorded in 1999,” the study said.

“These results show that the proportion of mothers delivering over 40 years of age has halved and that of parents of five or more children has fallen by 95% “This 30-year analysis demonstrates a general trend towards reduced fertility, later childbearing and a reduction in family size ” the study said.