Objective: To determine the frequency, demographics, type of abortionist, method used, and morbidity associated with complicated cases of unsafe abortion admitted to a tertiary care hospital.
Methodology: This descriptive tudy was conducted over a period of two years from 1st January 2010 to 31st December 2012 at the department of Gynecology, SMBBMU Larkana, Pakistan. All patients who had the history of induced abortion of ≤22 weeks of gestation, terminated outside our hospital were admitted. The information recorded included drmographics, reason for opting abortion, place of abortion and expertise of the person who carried out the procedure and its subsequent morbidity. After evaluation, and primary resuscitation, they were managed according to their morbid condition. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Results : During the study period, total number of admissions were 4952, and among them 452 were cases of abortion. Out of these, 60 had induced abortion making the frequency of 0.605% (6 per 1000 per year) of all the gynecological admissions and 6.63% (66 per1000 per year) of all the cases of abortion. Mean age of patients was 33.5±4.1 year. 48(80%) patients belonged to poor socioeconomic class and 58(96.7%) were illiterate. Abortion was induced by Dai (33.3%), Doctor (33.3%), Lady health visitor (LVH) (26.7%) and Traditional birth attendant (6.7%). Methods used were Dilatation and evacuation (55%) and oral misoprostol (45%). Bleeding per vaginum was the most common complication affecting 35(58.3%) patients followed by sepsis and uterine perforation.
Conclusion: Induced abortion is a menace resulting in significant maternal morbidity, affecting 6 per 1000 of all gynecological admissions per year. These abortions were mainly induced by Dais and LHVs. Bleeding per vaginum was the most common presenting feature of induced abortion.
Key words: Unsafe abortion, Induced abortion, Maternal morbidity, Complications.
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