Health Inequities in Manitoba: Is the Socioeconomic Gap

Health Inequities in Manitoba: Is the Socioeconomic Gap in Health Widening or Narrowing Over Time?
Chapter 4: Child Health
Teenage Pregnancy
Definition
Teenage pregnancy includes live births, stillbirths, abortions and ectopic pregnancies of women
under the age of twenty. In this report, average annual rates of teenage pregnancy are calculated for
females aged 15–19 over 1984/85–2007/08. Age is calculated as of date of admission to hospital in
the numerator and December 31 of each fiscal year in the denominator. Please refer to the Glossary in
Appendix 1 for diagnosis codes of teen pregnancy used in this report. Note that abortions performed in
private clinics may not be included.
Time Periods Average annual rate per 1,000 females aged 15–19
T1: 1984/85–1986/87 54.24
T2: 1987/88–1989/90 58.21
T3: 1990/91–1992/93 61.59
T4: 1993/94–1995/96 64.83
T5: 1996/97–1998/99 64.54
T6: 1999/00–2001/02 57.98
T7: 2002/03–2004/05 49.88
T8: 2005/06–2007/08 49.91
Key Findings: Teenage Pregnancy
Manitoba overall rates:
From the first time period T1 (1984/85–1986/87) to the last time period T8 (2005/06–2007/08), the
teenage pregnancy rate dropped provincially from 54.24 to 49.91 per 1,000 females aged 15–19.
However, there was a period of increasing teen pregnancy rates for the first decade to a maximum rate
of 64.83 in T4 (1993/94–1995/96), evident in both rural and urban neighbourhood income quintile
groups.
Rates by neighbourhood income quintile over time:
Rural:
• From T1 to T8, the teenage pregnancy rate in R1 and R2 peaked in the 1990s. In R3 to R5, overall the
teen pregnancy rates have declined fairly steadily since the 1980s. Rates in the last time period are
lower than rates in the first time period across all rural neighbourhood income quintile groups.
• The disparity between R1 and R5 increased substantially. The rate ratio of R1 compared to R5 was
2.21 in the first time period and 3.98 in the last time period, for a statistically significant increase
of 80%. The absolute difference gap of teenage pregnancy comparing R1 to R5 also statistically
significantly increased by 34% over time, from 60.53 more teenage pregnancies per 1,000 in R1
compared to R5 teens in the first time period to 80.58 more teen pregnancies per 1,000 in the last
time period.
Manitoba Centre for Health Policy 47