The United Kingdom has the highest number of teenage pregnancies in Europe. Teenage pregnancies have been linked to some pregnancy complications, for example, fetal growth restriction (small babies) and pre-term delivery. These pregnancy outcomes may be the result of various factors such as; the mothers diet, housing, income, smoking or because the mother is still growing. 

In this study we want to find out if there are anu links between the poor pregnancy outcomes sometimes seen in teenagers and diet, smoking, housing or income status. We also want to find out if teenagers who are still growing are more likely to have a problem in their pregnancy than those who have stopped growing. 

We are recruiting teenagers from 2 geographical areas, and 4 hospitals in England. Recruitment started in October 2004 and is due to finish in 2006.

This study is being funded by The Big Lottery Fund and Tommy’s The Baby Charity (registered charity number 1060508).