Introduction: Pregnancy in schools is an obstacle to the development and education of young girls, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency of pregnancies within a school setting and the profile of adolescent girls who have had the experience in Conakry, Guinea.
Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study covering the period from January 1 to June 30, 2017 in 16 schools.
Results: A total of 2,419 adolescent girls consented to participate in the study. The mean age was 16.48±0.04 years with extremes of 10 and 19 years. Students aged 15 to 19 (93.0%), those in college (53.3%) and single (69.8%) were the most likely to have been pregnant in school (P<0.05). The factors statistically significantly associated with the occurrence of teenage pregnancies in a school environment were age (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.5; 95%CI=1.3-1.7; P<0.001), school level (AOR=0.6; 95%CI=0.4-0.8; P=0.003 for Lycée), the place of residence (AOR=0.5; 95%CI=0.4-0.9; P=0.002 for Matam, AOR=0.4; 95%CI=0.3-0.8; P<0.001 for Dixinn, AOR=0,3; 95%CI=0.2-0.8; P=0.010 for Ratoma), marital status (AOR=8.7; 95%CI=3.4-7.0; P<0.001), information on reproductive health (AOR=2.4; 95%CI=1.1-3.0; P=0.015), knowledge of the benefits of family planning (AOR=2.2; 95%CI=1.0-2.2; P=0.030) and the difficulty of accessing sexual and reproductive health services (AOR=3.4; 95%CI=1.4-3,7; P<0.01).
Conclusions: The occurrence of school pregnancies remains a worrying reality among adolescent girls in Guinea. Factors associated with the occurrence of pregnancy in the school are age, school level, place of residence, marital status, knowledge of sexual health information, knowledge of the benefits of family planning, and related difficulties access to sexual and reproductive health services.