RISK FACTORS FOR SPONTANEOUS ABORTIONS IN TWO YAOUNDÉ DISTRICT HOSPITALS

Abstract

Background. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy before the age of fetal viability which, according to the WHO, is 22 weeks of pregnancy and/or with the fetus weigh less than 500 g. Spontaneous abortion is a public health problem. It's one of the most common complications of pregnancy. In order to contribute to the decrease of the morbidity and mortality linked to spontaneous abortions, we conducted this study, which the general objective was to study risk factors of spontaneous abortion. Methods. We carried out a cross-sectional case-control study in the District Hospitals of Biyem - Assi and Efoulan in Yaoundé. During six months, we collected 3774 records of pregnant women from January 1, 2020 to December 31.,2020. For each case (record of woman who had a spontaneous abortion), two controls (records of those who gavebirth spontaneously at term) of the same age, were immediately recruited. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Version.23.0 software. Tools used to assess our results were: Fischer's exact test, frequency, odds ratio (OR) and P, with P signicant for any value less than 5%. Results. We recruited 104 cases and 208 controls. Being unmarried, being from the littoral region, having a history of stress, smoking, having started antenatal care and having had prenuptial check-up, independently increased the risk of spontaneous abortion with respectively aOR = 2.8 IC=1.24-6.31 aP= 0.013, aOR=4.31 IC= 1.09-17.02 aP= 0.037, aOR=11.86; CI=3.88-36.19; aP=<0.001, aOR=8.57; CI=3.41-21.54; aP=<0.001, aOR=10.4; CI=1.12-96.82; aP=0.04) and aOR=3.37; CI=1.67-6.79; aP<0.001). Conclusion. These risk factors being mostly modiable, should be sought and prevented in order to improve the prognosis of pregnancies in our context.