Abstract
BackgroundUnintended pregnancy is a major public health problem with known risk factors, however, little is known about the prevalence of variables associated with recurrent unintended pregnancy (RUP) among young, unmarried women.MethodsA retrospective cohort study of unmarried women aged 18–21 serving in the Israeli military between 2013 and 2015. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between RUP and women’s education, IQ, immigration status, country of origin, socioeconomic status and history of psychiatric illness.ResultsOf 129,638 women drafted by the Israeli military during the study period, 1720 women with unintended pregnancies had a follow up period of at least a year. Three hundred and eighty-nine of them had RUP (22.6%). Multivariable models comparing women with no unintended pregnancies and women with RUP revealed that RUP was more common among (adjusted relative risk; 95% confidence interval) women who had not graduated from high school (6.9; 4.99–9.55), who had low (90–99) IQ scores (3.9; 2.88–5.39) those reporting Africa as the country of origin (2.5; 1.37–4.59) and those from a lower socioeconomic neighborhood (1.6; 1.18–2.05). Multivariate regression modeling comparing women with single unintended pregnancies and women with RUPs showed that recurrent unintended pregnancy was more common among women who had not graduated from high school (3.2; 2.04–4.84) and those who had a low (90–99) IQ score (1.9; 1.32–2.61).ConclusionRate of RUP is high among women serving in the Israeli military. These women have unique epidemiological characteristics. This may serve in identifying populations at high risk and thus may enable policy maker to offer at least to this population Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) methods. We encourage policy makers to consider the provision of LARC methods to all servicewomen who had an unintended pregnancy.
Highlights
Unintended pregnancy is a major public health problem with known risk factors, little is known about the prevalence of variables associated with recurrent unintended pregnancy (RUP) among young, unmarried women
Of 129,638 young, unmarried women drafted by the Israeli military between 2013 and 2015, 2376 conceived, of these 645 women had less than 1 year follow-up and were excluded from the study cohort, majority (545) because of discharge from military service due their decision to continue the pregnancy to term
After controlling for other covariates, the variables most strongly associated with risk of recurrent unintended pregnancies (Table 1) were failure to graduate from high school (6.9; 4.99–9.55), low (90–99) Intelligence Quotient (IQ) score (3.9; 2.88–5.39), African country of origin (2.5; 1.37–4.59) and resided on neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status (SES) (1.56; 1.18–2.05)
Summary
Unintended pregnancy is a major public health problem with known risk factors, little is known about the prevalence of variables associated with recurrent unintended pregnancy (RUP) among young, unmarried women. The correlation between unmarried status, low income, ethnic minorities and lower education to unintended pregnancies has been examined in many studies, [2,3,4], less is known about risk factors for recurrent unintended pregnancies (RUP). In our previous publication we performed a retrospective cohort study in order to identify the prevalence of and variables associated with unintended pregnancy among women serving in the Israeli military [5]. Failure to complete high-school and first-generation immigration were the most significant risk factors for having an unintended pregnancy during military service
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
