Evaluation of Therapeutic Abortion in a Secondary Level Public Hospital

INTRODUCTION: Abortion is one of the most common complications of pregnancy. The World Health Organization defines abortion as the fetus being expelled from the uterus under 20 weeks or the discarded fetus weighing less than 500 g. The aim of the study was to determine the causes of medical abortion.
METHODS: The data of this descriptive study were obtained from women who applied to Kars Harakani State Hospital Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic and underwent medical abortion between January 2019 and December 2020. All data were obtained from hospital records retrospectively.
RESULTS: Totally, 391 women enrolled in the study. It was found that 217 (55.5%) medical abortions were anembryonic, 50 (12.8%) were spontaneous abortions, 111 (28.4%) were intrauterine exitus, 7 (1.8%) were due to babies with chromosomal abnormalities, and 6 (1.5%) were performed due to maternal chronic disease. Two hundred and eighty-one (71.9%) patients were in the age range 20–35 years, 277 (70.8%) had no history of abortus, and 33 (8.4%) of them were university graduates.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Anembryonic pregnancy, chromosomal anomaly, and spontaneous abortion were the most frequent reasons for medical abortion. Pregnant women at risk should be directed to the upper center for further diagnosis and treatment.