Characteristics of Women Having First-Trimester Termination of Pregnancy at a District Hospital in Kwazulu-Natal

ABSTRACT

Termination of pregnancy (TOP) is requested by some women for a variety of reasons and it is plausible that profiling their characteristics might help to target selected groups for counselling. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of women having a legal first-trimester TOP at a regional hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. The medical records of 254 women were retrospectively sampled and analysed from a total of 758 women who had a first-trimester TOP between January and December 2008. The women were aged 14-45 years (the most common age group was 20-29 years; a mean age of 25.3 years and a standard deviation of 5.9). The majority (75.6) reported that they had at least one child who was alive; 1.6 had previously had a TOP; 93.3 were single and 28.4 resided outside the health district in which the hospital was situated. Eighty-nine per cent had not used contraception before the index pregnancy. Fifty-eight per cent requested a TOP between 9 and 12 weeks of gestation (a mean of 8 weeks). Ninety-six per cent had a TOP because of socio-economic reasons. All of the women received counselling prior to undergoing TOP. In our patient population; women who had a legal TOP in the first trimester were in their twenties; single; parous; sexually active; not on a contraceptive and of poor socio-economic status. Women with these characteristics should be targeted for appropriate counselling on reproductive health matters