Prevalence of pregnancy risk behaviour and associated factors among sexually active adolescent girls aged 10-17 years in Uganda: secondary analysis of the adolescent girls and young women 2018 survey data

Abstract

In the last decade, a slow decline in teenage pregnancy was registered, often stalling within sub-Saharan African countries. However, recent evidence indicates an increasing trend in teenage pregnancies, common among girls aged 10-17 years. Yet, little is known about the factors that may lead non-pregnant girls into getting pregnant. Objective: This study determined the prevalence of pregnancy risk behaviour and associated factors among sexually active adolescent girls (AG) aged 10-17 years in Uganda. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data collected as part of a large cross-sectional formative assessment of HIV, sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence status among in- and out-of-school adolescent girls and young women aged 10-24 years, conducted in July 2018. This analysis focused on AG aged 10-17 years who reported sexual intercourse in the 12 months preceding the survey. The primary outcome for this analysis was prevalence of pregnancy risk behaviour. Descriptive analysis was performed to determine the proportion of adolescent girls engaging in pregnancy risk behaviour and a modified multivariable Poisson regression model was used to determine the factors associated with engaging in pregnancy risk behaviour. All factors with a p-value<0.05 were considered to be associated with engagement in pregnancy risk behaviour. STATA version 16 was used for the analysis. Results: Of the 8236 AGYW interviewed in the formative survey, 54.5% (n=4488) had ever had sex. Of these, 81% (n=3636) reported that they had had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months, of whom about 9% (n=326) were AG aged 10-17 years. Two-thirds of the 10-17-year-olds (66.6%, n=217) were in-school while 42.3% (n=138) had never married. Of 326 AG, 62.3% (n=203) engaged in pregnancy risk behaviour in the past-year. Being married was found to be the factor associated with engaging in pregnancy risk behaviour (adjusted Prevalence Ratio [aPR]=1.01; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] = 1.00-1.21). Conclusion: Six in ten sexually-active AG aged 10-17 years engaged in pregnancy riskbehavior. The findings underscore the need for targeted interventions for girls about pregnancy prevention in this population.