Epidemiology of abortion during adolescence - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

Epidemiology of abortion during adolescence |

Purpose: to evaluate the social, demographic and obstetrical profile of adolescents as compared with adult women hospitalized for abortion complications. Material and methods: this is a descriptive study that evaluated 230 women with abortion complications. Among them, 59 were adolescents hospitalized at the IMIP Maternity (Recife, Brazil) from August 1994 to July 1995. The variables studied were: educational level, marital status, any paid activity, gestation age, number of pregnancies, desire to become pregnant, use of anticonceptive method, kind of relationship, reason for voluntary interruption, clinical classification of abortion and associated complications. The procedure for data analysis was the distribution of variables among adolescents and adults, the differences being evaluated through chi² and chi² for trend. Results: compared with the adult women who aborted, the adolescents showed a lower number of paid activity and multiparity and a higher number of pregnancies resulting from an unstable relationship. Conclusions: the results indicated that biologicallly the adolescents who were hospitalized for abortion have a similar profile to adult women. What differentiates them are the unfavorable social and demographic conditions that they are faced with at their generally unplanned first pregnancies.