1. Teenage pregnancy among care experienced young people in Fife : a data linkage study
- Author
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Hay, Laura Ann, Donnelly, Peter Duncan, Humphris, Gerald Michael, NHS Fife, and Scottish Government
- Subjects
Teenage pregnancy ,Care experienced young people ,Adolescent pregnancy ,RG556.5H2 ,Care leavers ,Looked after children ,Data linkage ,Teenage pregnancy--Scotland--Fife ,Teenagers--Institutional care--Scotland--Fife - 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
- Published
- 2022