Prevalence and factors associated with life threatening complications of abortion among patients admitted at the Gynaecology Emergency Ward of Kawempe National Referral Hospital

Abstract

Background: This study aimed at determining the prevalence and factors associated with life threatening complications of abortion among patients admitted at the emergency gynecology ward of KNRH. Life threatening complications of abortion were found to be 39.2% among patients admitted with abortion related illness at the emergency ward of KNRH with excessive haemorrhage being the commonest complication. Methods: A facility based cross sectional study was utilized to assess patients with abortion related morbidity seeking care from the emergency ward of Kawempe National Referral Hospital. A total of 260 eligible women were enrolled by consecutive sampling. The women who consented to participate in the study were given interviewer administered questionnaires. The questionnaire was both in English and the translated Luganda version. The participant’s bio data and factors that were associated with life threatening abortion complications were captured. Data was entered into Epi-data v3.0 and imported in STATA V16. Descriptive statistics of the social demographic variables, lifestyle and reproductive health characteristics were computed. The prevalence of life threatening complications of abortion were determined by the proportion of participants at the emergency ward of Kawempe National Referral Hospital who experienced life threatening complications of abortion among women admitted with abortion related illness. The association between the prevalence rate and demographic characteristics of respondents was assessed using Pearson Chi-square test. To determine the factors associated with life threatening complications of abortion at the emergency ward of KNRH Log binomial regression analysis was conducted. Results; 260 participants were included in the data analysis. The mean age of the participants was 26.5years, the youngest being 18years and the oldest 45years. The life threatening complications of abortion were excessive haemorrhage 69.6%, sepsis 26.5% and perforated uterus 3.9%. The main associated factors were SGBV, teenage pregnancy, induced abortion and contraception failure. Conclusion; Life threatening complications of abortion are a significant burden at the emergency ward of KNRH. Teenagers were more likely to get life threatening abortion complications. Sex and gender based violence, induced abortion, previous abortions, contraception failure and unskilled persons underlie some of the circumstances leading to life threatening abortion complications.