Post-abortion complications after interruption of pregnancy with misoprostol.
The high incidence of abortion in Brazil and the increased use of misoprostol among women having clandestine/unsafe abortions has led to an interest in evaluating whether there is an association between the use of misoprostol and the incidence of septic complications post-abortion. To test this association, a retrospective cohort study was conducted with 1840 women treated post-abortion at the Instituto Materno-Infantil de Pernambuco (IMIP) between 1988 and 1992. Incidence of infection (4.2%) was lower in women stating they had used misoprostol than in those stating that the abortion was not induced (7.9%) and twelve times lower than in women stating that they had used other methods (49.4%). These results suggest that misoprostol is a safe, inexpensive method for inducing abortion, and leads to fewer complications and consequently shorter hospital stays. Misoprostol should be considered a viable option in situations where induction of abortion is legal or medically indicated.
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Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP, Brasil.
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Carvalho
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Gras
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D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000740:Anemia / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000209:etiology; D016595:Misoprostol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D016595:Misoprostol