Frequency of unwanted pregnancies and its related factors in Tabriz hospitals in 2020

Unwanted pregnancies around the world due to the lack of support from families are a threat to the health of mother and child and one of the causes of increasing their mortality and a major obstacle to improve the productive and sexual health. This study was performed with aim to investigate the frequency of unwanted pregnancies and its related factors in the hospitals of Tabriz.

This cross-sectional study was performed in 2020 on 550 pregnant or newly delivered women who referred to the hospitals of Tabriz. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 14 questions by interview including demographic data, past obstetrics history, wanted or unwanted pregnancies and contraception method. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 17) and Chi-square test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The frequency of unwanted pregnancies in the study population was 26.2%. The frequency of unwanted pregnancies was higher in women aged 41-50 years or women and/or spouses with undergraduate education. Prevalence of unwanted pregnancies was significantly related to female occupation, family income, and previous unwanted pregnancy history (P<0.001). The highest frequency of unwanted pregnancies was observed in individuals with withdrawal contraceptive method (P<0.001). There was significant relationship between unwanted pregnancy and the spouses’ opinion about use of contraceptive method and the level of his awareness about contraception (P<0.001).

In this study, more than a quarter of pregnancies were reported as unwanted and regarding to the problems of unwanted pregnancy, development of training programs to control this and accept pregnancies by families, even if unwanted, seems necessary.