An Epidemiological Study of Abortion among Sample of Patients Attending Two Teaching Hospitals in Baghdad

G. J. Al-Rubayee, Mazin; Hamdani,; T. A. Al, Inas; Farag Hassan, Ebtesam

	An Epidemiological Study of Abortion among Sample of Patients Attending Two Teaching Hospitals in Baghdad
IRAQI JOURNALOF COMMUNITY MEDICINE
Article 1, Volume 23, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 208-218
Authors
Mazin G. J. Al-Rubayee; ; Inas T. A. Al; Ebtesam Farag Hassan
Abstract
Background: Abortion is expulsion or attempted expulsion of an embryo or fetus before viability. This is generally considered at 24 weeks gestation. Spontaneous abortion is a common cause of maternal anemia and illegal abortion is the fifth most common cause of maternal death worldwide. In developing countries, there is few if any data on abortion. The aim of this study was to find the size of this problem and to highlight on some risk factors of abortion in Baghdad through the study of a convenient sample of 257 patients. Patients & Methods: The study was a descriptive cross sectional study done in the period between 1/2 - 31/5 in 2009 in Al- Elwyia maternity teaching hospital and Al-Yarmouk general teaching hospital. The data were collected through direct interviews by the researcher with the patients using a special questionnaire form, in addition to the results of examination and investigation. Results: Abortion constituted 14.3 % of the total obstetric / gynecological admissions with a rate of 177.7 per 1000 pregnancy and a ratio of 0.2 to other pregnancy outcomes. Unplanned pregnancy constituted 29.4% of the total spontaneous and illegal abortions, three fifths of them didn’t use any contraceptive method. The highest percentage of patients in all types of abortion was married before 25 years (71.2%) and had no antenatal care (80.9%). The highest percentage of patients with spontaneous abortion were para 3 and more ( 43%), had less than one year interpregnancy interval (40.1%) and more than one third(37.2%) were married to cousin relatives. The highest percentage of patients with illegal abortion had between 1-6 years of education( 38.2%), had three and more children (59.2% ),in 25% of the cases the pregnancy was unwanted and in 43.4 % of them induction was at 13 weeks of gestation & above. Recommendation: The study recommended to, increase knowledge attitude and practice surveys on abortion, establish a minimum age for marriage, provide quality antenatal care services, include comprehensive family planning program in primary health care and post abortion care, limit the discharge of abortifacient drugs to medical prescription and involve private sectors in reporting and community nongovernmental organizations in education of women about family planning and antenatal care services in addition to the risks of unsafe abortion. Keywords: Epidemiology, Abortion, Teaching hospitals
Keywords
Epidemiology; abortion; Teaching hospitals

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