Early pregnancy termination with mifepristone and misoprostol in the United States.
BACKGROUND
Mifepristone and a prostaglandin have been used successfully to terminate pregnancy in Europe and China. We report the results of a large U.S. study of mifepristone and misoprostol in women with pregnancies of up to nine weeks' duration.


METHODS
We administered 600 mg of mifepristone and then 400 microg of misoprostol two days later to 2121 women seeking termination of their pregnancies at 17 centers. The women were observed for four hours after the administration of misoprostol and returned on day 15 for final assessment.


RESULTS
Two thousand fifteen women completed the final assessment. Among them, pregnancy was terminated in 762 of the 827 women pregnant for < or =49 days (92 percent), 563 of the 678 women pregnant for 50 to 56 days (83 percent), and 395 of the 510 women pregnant for 57 to 63 days (77 percent) (P<0.001). Termination occurred within 4 hours after the administration of misoprostol in 49 percent of the women and within 24 hours in 75 percent. Failures, defined as cases requiring surgical intervention for medical reasons or because the patient requested it, the abortion was incomplete, or the pregnancy was ongoing, increased with increasing duration of pregnancy. The largest increase was in failures representing ongoing pregnancy, which increased from 1 percent in the < or =49-days group to 9 percent in the 57-to-63-days group (P<0.001). Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and vaginal bleeding also increased with advancing gestational age. Two percent of the women in the < or =49-days group, as compared with 4 percent in each of the other two groups, were hospitalized, underwent surgical interventions, and received intravenous fluids (P=0.008).


CONCLUSIONS
This mifepristone-misoprostol regimen is effective in terminating pregnancies, especially in women with pregnancies of 49 days' duration or less.
Spitz
I M
IM
Center for Biomedical Research, Population Council, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Bardin
C W
CW
Benton
L
L
Robbins
A
A
D000020:Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal / Q000009:adverse effects; D000021:Abortifacient Agents, Steroidal / Q000009:adverse effects; D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D015735:Mifepristone / Q000009:adverse effects; D016595:Misoprostol / Q000009:adverse effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D017211:Treatment Failure; D014481:United States; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000139:chemically induced
D000020:Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal; D000021:Abortifacient Agents, Steroidal; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D016595:Misoprostol; D015735:Mifepristone