Time Trends in and Factors Associated with Repeat Adolescent Birth in Uganda: Analysis of Six Demographic and Health Surveys

Background: Information on repeat adolescent birth remains scarce in sub-Sahara Africa. We investigated the prevalence and time trends in repeat adolescent birth in Uganda, and associated factors.

Methods: We analyzed Uganda Demographic and Health Survey data of women age 20-24 years collected on 6 surveys (1988/89-2016) to estimate repeat adolescent birth (first live birth <18 years of age followed by another live birth(s) <20 years). Further, we estimated the wantedness of the second order birth and the prevalence of short birth intervals birth (<13 months) between the first and second such birth. On the 2016 survey, we examined factors associated with repeat adolescent birth using bivariate and multivariate modified Poisson regression.

Results: At the 1988/89 survey, 58.9% of women with first birth <18 years reported a repeat adolescent birth. This percentage increased to 66.8% in 2006 (+7.9 percentage points [pp], p = 0.010) and thereafter declined to 55.6% by 2016 (-11.2 pp, p<0.001), nevertheless, no change occurred between 1988/89 and 2016 (-3.3pp, p = 0.251). Among women with repeat adolescent births, the mean number of live births by exact age 20 years (2.2 births) and prevalence of short birth intervals (3.5% in 1988/89, 5.4% in 2016) (+1.9pp, p = 0.245) did not change. Increasingly more women with repeat adolescent births preferred to have had the second child later, 22.5% in 1995 and 43.1% in 2016 (+20.6pp, p = <0.001). On the 2016 survey, women from poorer households and those of younger age at first birth were significantly more likely to report repeat adolescent birth.

Conclusion: Following a first birth <18 years, more than half of the women report a repeat adolescent birth (<20 years), with no decline observed in 30 years. Increasingly more women wanted the second adolescent pregnancy later, highlighting the need to support adolescents with improved family planning services at each contact.