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Show Births to Adolescents Compiled by Kimberly Stein and Dan Bergantz 2000 Utah Adolescent Birth Rate: Age 15-17: 22 per 1,000 Age 18-19: 65 per 1,000 Table 46. Live Birth Rate per 1,000 Girls by Mother's Age, Utah and U.S., 1980-2000. Births to adolescent females are a public health concern for a number of reasons. Both baby and mother are more likely to suffer from adverse health both during and after the pregnancy. Adolescent girls who are expecting a child often neglect to seek needed prenatal care. This can lead to both physical and emotional health problems for the mother, in addition to premature birth and low birth weight of the baby. Although adolescent birth rates are declining both in Utah and the U.S. (Table 46), this trend may be misleading in terms of adolescent females becoming pregnant. The adolescent birth rate does not include abortions or miscarriages, and is an underestimate of the adolescent pregnancy rate. A steady or even increasing pregnancy rate could be offset by an even greater increasing rate of miscarriages or abortions among adolescent females. The underlying problem of adolescent pregnancies must be examined in order to determine if efforts to reduce such pregnancies are showing effective results. Table 47. Live Birth Rate per 1,000 Fathers Under 20 Years of Age, US, 1990-1998. Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Births 23.5 24.8 24.6 24.8 25.0 24.3 23.0 22.2 21.6 Age 15-17 Age 18-19 Year Utah U.S. Utah U.S. 1980 36.3 32.5 99.4 82.1 1981 31.8 32.0 104.0 80.0 1982 29.9 32.3 100.0 79.4 1983 26.8 31.8 84.8 77.4 1984 24.5 31.0 77.0 77.4 1985 22.9 31.0 73.5 79.6 1986 23.5 30.5 74.8 79.6 1987 24.9 31.7 72.0 78.5 1988 25.7 33.6 71.2 79.9 1989 23.5 36.4 81.1 84.2 1990 25.9 37.5 77.9 88.6 1991 27.5 38.7 80.6 94.4 1992 26.9 37.8 77.3 94.5 1993 26.5 37.8 74.5 92.1 1994 26.0 37.6 72.2 91.5 1995 26.1 36.0 70.5 89.1 1996 25.1 34.0 72.0 86.5 1997 24.8 32.1 72.3 83.6 1998 23.8 30.4 69.9 82.0 1999 24.3 28.7 65.3 80.3 2000 22.0 27.5 64.9 79.5 Table 48. Teena ige Birth Rate per 1,000 Girls for Se- lect Countries, 1997. Country Rate Austria 26.9 Finland 26.5 Greece 26.0 Israel 26.1 Japan 25.1 Norway 24.8 Portugal 23.8 United Kingdom 24.3 United States 22.0 Sources: Utah Department of Health, Center for Health Data. Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health. [Online] http://ibisph.state.ut.us/. Retrieved 4/3/02. National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics Report, Vol 49, No 10. [Online] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm/. Utah's Health: An Annual Review Volume VIII |