Prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics of women with induced abortion in a population sample of São Paulo, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Souza, Milena Goulart
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Fusco, Carmen L. B., Andreoni, Solange [UNIFESP], Silva, Rebeca de Souza e [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1809-4503201400020002ENG; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/8445
• topic: Abortion; Induced abortion; Epidemiology; Public Health; Reproductive Health; Prevalence Ratio; Aborto; Aborto provocado; Saúde Pública; Epidemiologia; Saúde Reprodutiva; Razão de Prevalência

Objectives:This study aims at estimating the prevalence of women with induced abortion among women of childbearing age (15-49 years) who had any previous pregnancy, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in the last quarter of 2008, and identifying the sociodemographic characteristics (SC) associated with it. Methods:A cross-sectional survey was carried out. The dependent variable was dichotomized as: no abortion and induced abortion. The independent variables were: age, paid work/activity, familial monthly income, schooling, marital status, contraceptive use and number of live births. Statistical analysis was performed using log-binomial regression models with approximation of Poisson to estimate the prevalance ratios (PR). Results:Of all women with any previous pregnancy (n = 683), 4.5% (n = 31) reported induced abortion. The final multivariate model showed that having now between 40 and 44 years (PR = 2.76, p = 0.0043), being single (PR = 2.79, p = 0.0159), having 5 or more live births (PR = 3.97, p = 0.0013), current oral contraception or IUD use (PR = 2.70, p = 0.454) and using a non effective (or of low efficacy) contraceptive method (PR = 4.18, p = 0.0009) were sociodemographic characteristics associated with induced abortion in this population. Conclusions:Induced abortion seems to be used to limit fertility, more precisely after having reached the desired number of children. The inadequate use or non-use of effective contraceptive methods, and / or the use of contraceptivenon effective, exposed also the women to the risk of unintended pregnancies and, therefore, induced abortions. In addition, when faced with a pregnancy, single women were more likely to have an abortion than married women.