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A four‐year survey on unexpected pregnancy diagnoses in a large urban emergency department in Parma, Italy
Author(s) -
Cervellin Gianfranco,
Comelli Ivan,
Sartori Elisabetta,
Lippi Giuseppe
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2014.04.006
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency department , pregnancy , nigerians , obstetrics , population , obstetrics and gynaecology , marital status , immigration , medical diagnosis , medical record , demography , pediatrics , gynecology , surgery , history , genetics , environmental health , archaeology , psychiatry , sociology , political science , law , biology , pathology
Objective To investigate the rate of unexpected pregnancy diagnoses in the emergency department of the Academic Hospital of Parma, Parma, Italy. Methods Data for all patients with a positive β‐human chorionic gonadotropin test between October 2008 and September 2012 were retrieved from the hospital records. Information on age, gender, country of birth, and reason for presenting to the emergency department was collected. Results During the study period, 160 151 visits of female patients were recorded, including 385 (0.2%) women who received a diagnosis of pregnancy; 97 (25.2%) were native Italians and 288 (74.8%) were foreign‐born. The percentage of women presenting for trauma did not differ between the two groups, whereas the rate of admission to the obstetrics and gynecology department was higher among natives (20.6% vs 9.0%; P = 0.002). Africans represented 66.0% (n = 190) of the women with an unexpected pregnancy diagnosis. Nigerians accounted for 20.8% (n = 60) of all foreign‐born women with a pregnancy diagnosis, although they represented less than 2% of the entire immigrant population. Conclusion Unexpected pregnancy is a problem in the province of Parma, most notably among women from Sub‐Saharan Africa. Efforts should be strengthened to provide more fragile groups with easily available family planning information.