Pregnancy wastage in a rural community in Egypt.

Abstract

A survey was carried out in the rural Egyptian village of Kome El-Berkah to determine the role that biological factors play in pregnancy outcome. Accurate information on abortion was sought in particular. To detect early pregnancy, an immunologic test was given to everyone who had missed a period for at least 13 days and was repeated monthly for lactating mothers whose periods had not yet resumed. The study started in June 1969 and lasted 2 years. 132 pregnancies resulted in the 302 women who were regarded as being potentially exposed to pregnancy. More than 2/3 were 4th pregnancies or more, and 18.9% were 8th or more. There was an increasing abortion ratio in women younger than 20 and in those with inter-pregnancy intervals of less than 12 months. There was an increasing fetal death rate in increasing orders of pregnancy and in older women. All 3 stillbirths were in pregnancies of the 6th order or more. Family planning could brighten the outcome of many pregnancies by lengthening the interval between pregnancies and preventing unwanted pregnancies in older women.