Kaweeta Kumari, Sheena Memon, Shireen Zulfiquar Bhutta, Raana Nizam Jamelle.
Hazards of Unsafe Abortions in the Past and Present - a Continuing Dilemma and a Preventable cause of Maternal Mortality.
J Liaquat Uni Med Health Sci Jan ;15(01):26-34.

OBJECTIVE: This comparative study was done to highlight the complications of induced miscarriages and identify any change in the pattern of maternal morbidity and mortality associated with induced miscarriages over time. METHODS: This is a comparative study of complications and clinical presentation of induced abortions carried out at two tertiary care hospitals over a time difference of 10 years. The first phase is from January 2001 to December 2002 carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology W-8 JPMC, Karachi. The second phase is from July 2013 to June 2014 at Creek General Hospital, which is another tertiary care hospital catering similar patients. The sampling technique was simple convenient. A total of 120 patients presented with different complications after a history of induced abortions were studied; 60 patients in the first phase and 60 patients in the second phase were studied. RESULTS: Majority of the patients for both phases were between 30-40 years of age { (37/60 (61.66%) and 35/60 (58.%) } . During 1st phase (n=60) the most common reason for termination of pregnancy was unintended/unplanned pregnancy. Instrumentation was the commonest method employed, most done by nurses. Bleeding per vaginum was the mode of presentation in most of the cases and septic abortion was common complication leading to loss of 7 lives. In 2nd phase (n=60) reduced space between pregnancies was the common reason for termination of the pregnancy. In most of the cases instrumentation done by doctors. Majority of the patients presented with lower abdominal pain and vaginal discharge. The most common complication observed was pelvic inflammatory disease. Data entered into SPSS and Chi square test applied to compare the data during two phases CONCLUSION: Although we found reduced mortality during 2nd phase of this study, however unsafe abortions still carries significant morbidity.

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