Table 3.

Summary of findings for the effect of nutrition interventions for pregnant adolescents

Quality assessment						Summary of findings
Number of studies	Design	Limitations	Consistency	Directness		Number of events		RR/SMD (95% CI)
				Generalizability to population of interest	Generalizability to intervention of interest	Intervention	Control
Mean birth weight: lowa outcome-specific quality of evidence
8	RCT/quasi	Six studies not randomized, selective reporting of outcomes in one study	Only one study suggests benefit Moderate heterogeneity, I2 = 50%	All studies targeted pregnant adolescents	Interventions included nutritional supplementation and counseling	1,634	1,513	.25 (.08–.41)
Low birth weight (<2,500 g): lowa outcome-specific quality of evidence
9	Quasi	None of the studies were randomized	Five studies suggest benefit Considerable heterogeneity, I2 = 67%	All studies targeted pregnant adolescents	Interventions included nutritional supplementation and counseling	416	1,011	.70 (.57–.84)
Serum calcium: moderatea outcome-specific quality of evidence
2	RCT	Selective reporting of outcomes in both studies	No study suggests benefit Low heterogeneity, I2 = 33%	All studies targeted pregnant adolescents	Interventions included nutritional supplementation and counseling	49	46	−.17 (−.58 to .23)
Preterm birth (before 37 weeks): lowa outcome-specific quality of evidence
2	RCT/quasi	One study not randomized, selective reporting of outcomes in one study	One study suggests benefit Considerable heterogeneity, I2 = 74%	All studies targeted pregnant adolescents	Interventions included nutritional supplementation and counseling	294	569	.73 (.57–.95)
Iron deficiency anemia: lowa outcome-specific quality of evidence
1	RCT	Selective reporting of outcomes in one study	Only one study	All studies targeted pregnant adolescents	Interventions included nutritional supplementation and counseling	4	10	.34 (.13–.89)

CI = confidence interval; RCT = randomized controlled trial; RR = relative risk; SMD = standard mean difference.

^aDowngraded for study design and heterogeneity.