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The magnitude of abortion complications in Kenya
Author(s) -
Gebreselassie Hailemichael,
Gallo Maria F.,
Monyo Anthony,
Johnson Brooke R.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2004.00503.x
Subject(s) - abortion , medicine , unsafe abortion , case fatality rate , vacuum aspiration , incidence (geometry) , pregnancy , obstetrics , family planning , population , stratified sampling , cross sectional study , incomplete abortion , etiology , pediatrics , demography , misoprostol , environmental health , research methodology , genetics , physics , pathology , optics , biology , psychiatry , sociology
Objective To estimate and describe the magnitude of abortion complications presenting at public hospitals in Kenya. Design Cross‐sectional descriptive study. Setting Hospital‐based. Population Records of all women presenting prior to 22 weeks of gestation with abortion‐related complications at selected hospitals during a three‐week study period. All public tertiary and provincial hospitals were included; stratified random sampling was employed to select a subset of 54 district hospitals nationwide. Methods Data collectors identified 809 patients with abortion complications on all hospital wards and completed a standardised questionnaire for each by extracting information from the patient's hospital record. Main outcome measures Incidence, aetiology, morbidity and mortality of abortion complications. Results Most women (80%) presented with incomplete abortion. Approximately 34% of the women had reached the second trimester of pregnancy. Adolescents (14–19 years old) accounted for approximately 16% of the study sample. Manual vacuum aspiration was used to manage 80% of first trimester cases. The projected annual number of women with abortion complications admitted to public hospitals in Kenya is 20,893. The case fatality rate was estimated to be 0.87% (95% CI 0.71–1.02%), so an estimated 182 (95% CI 148–213) of these women die annually. The annual incidence of incomplete abortion and other abortion‐related complications per 1000 women aged 15 to 49 years is projected to be 3.03. Conclusions The high rate of abortion‐related morbidity and mortality documented in the study highlights the critical need to address the issue of unsafe abortion in Kenya.