Risk factors assoicated with increased the chance of ectopic pregnancy

Ectopic Pregnancy (EP) is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors that increase the chances of ectopic pregnancy.

This case-control study was performed in the hospitals of Shahroud University of Medical Sciences in 2018 by census method. Pregnant women who were hospitalized with suspected ectopic and acute abdomen and the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy were confirmed in them selected as case group.Also, women with normal uterine pregnancies were randomly assigned to the control group. Individual information such as demographic information, smoking, history of miscarriage, history of pelvic infection, history of previous ectopic pregnancy in two groups was extracted. For statistical analysis, single-variable and multi-variable logistic regression analysis was used.

In this study, 144 people were examined in each group. Smoking (OR: 12.219 ,P=0.005), education level below diploma (OR: 4.483 ,P=0.002), Abdominal surgery history (OR: 3.337 ,P=0.004), Ectopic pregnancy history (OR: 11.684 ,P=0.008), previous delivery type (OR: 2.567 ,P<0.05) and history of abortion (OR: 14.548 ,P=0.001) increased the chances of getting an ectopic pregnancy.

Our findings indicate that the most important risk factors of increased ectopic pregnancy were the history of abortion, smoking, history of ectopic pregnancy, level of undergraduate education, history of abdominal surgery and type of previous delivery, respectively.