title: Demographic factors determining termination of pregnancy following the detection of lethal fetal malignancy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify demographic and clinical variables differentiating pregnant Polish women who decided to terminate the pregnancy in the case of lethal fetal malformation from those who preferred to continue the pregnancy in such a situation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The group of women who decided to abort contained a higher fraction of multiparas than the group of patients who chose to continue their pregnancies, and was characterized by significantly lower mean gestational age at diagnosis of lethal fetal malformation. The only demographic variable approaching statistical significance was the presence of siblings, which was significantly more frequent amongst women who decided to terminate the pregnancy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As the decision-making process on pregnancy termination is multimodal, pregnant women require particular support in the case of detecting lethal malformation in their fetuses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrical and Gynecological Nursing, Medical University of Gdansk , Gdansk , Poland and.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michalik
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Preis
mesh_terms: D009008:Abnormalities, Severe Teratoid; D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011044:Poland; D011247:Pregnancy; D066252:Sociological Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Abortion; counseling; decision making process; determinants; fetal malformation