Teen pregnancies are higher than average

Kara Marchant

27 June 2008

SMOKING during pregnancy and teenagers getting pregnant are two of the biggest problems facing health chiefs in Worcester, new data released on Tuesday revealed.
The health profile statistics, which detail a number of different health factors for each area in the country, show that in Worcester, a higher proportion of teenagers are falling pregnant than the English average.
And more Worcester mums-to-be smoke during their pregnancy than on average across England.
The figures reveal that there are 47.3 pregnant teenagers for every 1,000 teens in Worcester, compared to 41.1 across England on average.
And 23.2 per cent of pregnant women in the city smoke, compared to just 16.1 per cent in England, on average.
Other areas the city falls behind the national picture include the take-up of breastfeeding among new mums and alcohol-related hospital stays.
But there is good news for the city as well.
Children in Worcester get more physical activity than those across the country on average, with 94.2 per cent of youngsters aged five to 16 getting at least two hours of high quality sport or PE a week – while the English average is just 85.7 per cent.
Youngsters in Malvern are even more active – with 99.2 per cent of children there getting at least two hours.
And in Malvern, adults are also getting healthy, with 13.7 per cent being physically active and 31.8 per cent eating healthily – both well above the English average.
Teen pregnancies in the Malvern Hills District are below the English average too – just 22.4 pregnancies per 1,000 teens.
But smoking in pregnancy is also a problem in Malvern – 23 per cent of mums to be in the district also confess to smoking while pregnant.
But overall in Malvern, deaths from smoking were well below the national picture – with just 168.3, per 100,000 people aged 35 and over, compared to 225.4 nationally.

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