Madeeha Rashid, Rubina Tariq.
Unsafe abortion : unnecessary maternal morbidity and mortality.
Biomedica Jan ;26(2):114-7.

Introduction: Abortion is a sensitive and contentious issue with religious, moral, cultural and poli-tical dimensions. It is also a public health concern in many parts of the world. An unsafe abortion is defined as a "Procedure for terminating an unintended pregnancy carried out either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimal medical stan-dards, or both". The purpose of the present study was to determine the demographic variables, maternal morbidity and mortality in cases of unsafe abortion. The study was carried out with department of Obs. and Gynae., SIMS / Services Hospital, Lahore, as prospective observational. Materials and Methods: 87 women presented with complications of unsafe abortion. They were interviewed about their history, the clinical features, period of gestation, method used and qualifi-cation of abortionist. The details of management, complications and outcome were also analyzed. Results: The age ranged from 15 to 45 years, teenagers accounted for 11.49% of patients. Mean age is 29 years. 20% were nulliparous and parity ranged between zero to eight. Mainly abortions were conducted by Dais (43%). Contraception prevalence rate was just 8%. In 70% of patients sur-gical intervention was required and blood transfusion was needed in almost all patients. Maternal mortality was 16.09% with septicemia being the major cause. Conclusion: Unsafe abortion and its attendant complications is still a problem in Pakistan. Main reasons are unattended pregnancies, low contraception usage and late presentation to the health facilities.

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