Journal des soins de santé des femmes
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The Impact of Early Marriage on Pregnancy Outcomes of Ever-married Women: Findings from India Human Development Survey, 2011-12

Pintu Paul

Background: Women's adverse pregnancy outcomes are the major areas of concern and serious problem in developing countries like India. This study examines the association between early marriage and selected pregnancy outcomes-stillbirth, miscarriage or wasted pregnancy, pregnancy complications, delivery complications and post-natal complications.
Methods: Data from India Human Development Survey, 2011-12 were utilized. A total of 35,282 ever-married women were included in the analysis. Cross-tabulation, Pearson chi-square test, and binary logistic regression were performed for the analyses of the study.
Results: Bivariate association showed significant differences in women's pregnancy outcomes according to their age at marriage. Multivariate logistic regression analysis suggest that after controlling for relevant demographics the likelihood of stillbirth (OR 1.12, p<0.05), miscarriage or wasted pregnancy (OR 1.15, p<0.01), pregnancy complications (OR 1.24, p<0.01), and post-natal complications (OR 1.32, p<0.01) were higher among the women who married at the age of ≤ 14 years than those women who married at the age of 18 years or above and no significant association was found between the women who married at the age of 15-17 years and pregnancy outcomes except for post-natal complications (OR 1.12, p<0.05) in adjusted analysis.
Conclusion: Findings suggest that women who married below 15 years of age were at higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes than the later married women and there is a need for immediate policy intervention to address their severe health outcomes.