Open AccessRising Trends in Ectopic Pregnancy during COVID-19 Pandemic
Author(s) -
Rosy Bala,
Sangeeta Pahwa,
Surinder Kaur,
Preet Kamal
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ameis's current trends in diagnosis and treatment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2582-4260
pISSN - 2457-0923
DOI - 10.5005/jp-journals-10055-0106
Subject(s) - medicine , ectopic pregnancy , salpingectomy , pandemic , obstetrics , pill , pelvic inflammatory disease , laparotomy , retrospective cohort study , pregnancy , covid-19 , disease , surgery , infectious disease (medical specialty) , genetics , biology , pharmacology
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has spread at an exponential rate in several countries. Whereas understanding of clinical consequences, prevention, and management of COVID-19 is increasing, little is known about the collateral damage caused by it. It is noteworthy that ectopic pregnancies contributed to significant obstetric emergencies in the COVID-19 pandemic and sensitized the caregivers to report the event. Materials and methods This retrospective study was conducted at the Tertiary Care Medical and Teaching Institute, Amritsar, India, to observe the rising trends of ectopic pregnancy during the lockdown period from March 22, 2020, to July 30, 2020. Data were taken from the hospital records of Emergency and Gynaecology and Obstetric departments after getting ethical clearance from the ethics committee of the institute. The details of demographic characters, clinical presentation, risk factors, and treatment plan for ectopic pregnancy, as well as associated morbidity and mortality were studied in detail in comparison to times other than during COVID-19 pandemic. Results It was observed that the proportion of ruptured ectopic pregnancies was significantly higher during the lockdown period in comparison to the prelockdown period (12/617; 1.94% vs. 17/4367; 0.381%, Fisher's exact test p 0.02). Majority of patients (91.66%) presented late with ruptured ectopic pregnancy with hemoperitoneum and had to undergo emergency laparotomy and a salpingectomy was done in 66.66% of cases. Discussion Social lifestyle changes, increased use of emergency contraceptive pills, and medical abortion pills due to poor accessibility of healthcare facilities were observed during this period. Noticeably, a high number of patients came in an emergency with failed medical abortions who were later diagnosed with ruptured ectopic pregnancies. Conclusion We think that monitoring the indirect potential consequences of COVID-19 pandemic is imperative in order to avoid unexpected deleterious complications in women's health. How to cite this article Kaur S, Kamal P, Pahwa S, et al. Rising Trends in Ectopic Pregnancy during COVID-19 Pandemic. AMEI's Curr Trends Diagn Treat 2020;4(2):84–86.