Pregnancy and Female Reproductive Disorders

Abstract

Socioeconomic and cultural changes as well as medical advances continue to increase life expectancy and quality of life for women, especially those in their child-bearing years. Recent trends in the vital statistics of the USA and Europe document the decrease in the number of births, the birth rate, the age-adjusted death rate and the infant mortality rate. US life expectancy increased slightly to 75.7 in 1994, with women’s life expectancy an additional 3–7 years compared with men. Overall, age-adjusted death rates for women were lower for heart disease, malignancies, pulmonary disease, accidents and homicides.1 Mortality due to HIV, unfortunately, has continued to rise dramatically (see Chapter 36). US fertility rates for women aged 15–44 have declined to 67.1 live births per 1000 women. For all racial groups fertility has declined. Birth rates for teens appears to have leveled off. The number and proportion of women over age 30 giving birth continues to rise. A number of researchers have ascertained that the number of deaths due to pregnancy and its complications is underestimated in most developed countries.2 Despite this under-reporting phenomenon, pregnancy-related mortality is a relatively rare event.KeywordsGestational Diabetes MellitusEctopic PregnancyPelvic Inflammatory DiseaseChronic Pelvic PainIntrahepatic CholestasisThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.