[Reproductive history of Chilean puerperal women hospitalized in a public hospital of the metropolitan region].
BACKGROUND
Maternal and infantile morbidity is closely related to the features of women's reproductive history.


OBJECTIVE
To study the reproductive behavior of women hospitalized due to labor or abortion in a public maternity of Metropolitan Santiago.


METHODS
One thousand women were interviewed about their reproductive behavior, 24 to 72 hours after pregnancy resolution.


RESULTS
Ages of interviewed women ranged from 13 to 47 years old. Eighty seven percent had three children or less. The proportion of single women with a first pregnancy was 62% and decreased to 9.3% in those with a second pregnancy. At the first pregnancy, 1.3% of women were using contraceptives, notwithstanding that 27% did not want to become pregnant. Most women had a birth spacing of 24 to 59 months. There was a low number of stillbirths in this sample.


CONCLUSIONS
This work shows that studied women have pregnancies at low risk ages and an adequate parity.
Henríquez
R
R
Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina (Campus Occidente), Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile.
Vargas
N
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002677:Chile; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D017584:Reproductive History; D014505:Urban Population
Historia reproductiva en puérperas de un hospital de la región Metropolitana.