Factors Associated with Abortion in Women of Reproductive Age

To verify sociodemographic factors associated with the occurrence of abortion in women of reproductive age, in areas covered by the Family Health Strategy (FHS), a program from the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

Methods

A cross-sectional study using household surveys of 350 women aged 15 to 49. The report of abortion was a variable indicator, and sociodemographic aspects were covariables. Prevalence ratio (PR) and respective 95% confidence intervals were used to estimate the magnitude of the associations.

Results

There were associations among age, civil status, race/color, and religion; an increase in the prevalence of lower levels of education, age less than 20, and student status were protective factors.

Conclusion

The association between sociodemographic characteristics and the report of abortion is attributed to the fact that there is a lack at the FHS in the availability of fundamental healthcare services for young women; these findings call for action to guarantee the access to information about contraceptives and guidance to decrease the risk of unplanned pregnancies and abortions.

Keywords:
reproductive health; abortion; family health strategy; nursing

Sociodemographic factors			Report of abortion				p ^b
	Total		No240 (68.6)		Yes110 (31.4)
	N	(%)	N	(%)	N	(%)
Age (years)
< 20	31	8.9	28	11.7	3	2.7	0.000
20 - 34	181	51.7	132	55.0	49	44.6
≥ 34	138	39.4	80	33.3	58	52.7
Marital status
Single	109	31.1	78	32.5	31	28.2	0.711
Married/stable union	232	66.3	156	65.0	76	69.1
Divorced/widowed	9	2.6	6	2.5	3	2.7
Color (self-reported) (n= 340)
White	22	6.5	16	6.8	6	5.7	0.747
Brown/black	316	92.9	218	92.8	98	93.3
Indigenous	2	0.6	1	0.4	1	1.0
Religion
Without religion	66	18.9	47	19.6	19	17.3	0.743
Catholic	147	42.0	98	40.8	49	44.5
Evangelical protestant	133	38.0	93	38.8	40	36.4
Other	4	1.1	2	0.8	2	1.8
Schooling (n= 346)
College complete and incomplete	135	39.0	101	42.8	34	30.9	0.093
High School education complete and incomplete	185	53.5	119	50.4	66	60.0
Literate/incomplete elementary	26	7.5	16	6.8	10	9.1
Employment status
Remunerated activity	90	25.7	62	25.8	28	25.4	0.174
Unemployed	54	15.4	36	15.0	18	16.4
Housewife	177	50.6	117	48.8	60	54.5
Student	29	8.3	25	10.4	4	3.6
Family income (in MW)^a (n= 346)
≤ 1	150	43.4	110	46.2	40	37.0	0.284
2 - 3	175	50.6	114	47.9	61	56.5
4 - 5	21	6.1	14	5.8	7	6.5

Sociodemographic factors	Reporting of abortion
Sociodemographic factors	Prevalence (%)	PR^b (95% CI)
Age group (years)
< 20	9.7	0.29 (0.09 - 0.86)
20 - 34	27.1	1.0^c
≥ 34	42.0	1.73 (1.27 - 2.36)
Marital status
Single	28.4	1.0^c
Married/stable union	32.8	1.16 (0.82 - 1.66)
Divorced/widowed	33.3	1.17 (0.46 - 2.96)
Color (self-reported) (n= 340)
White	5.7	1.0^c
Brown/black	28.8	1.04 (0.52 - 2.07)
Indigenous	50.0	1.50 (0.27 - 7.96)
Religion
Without religion	28.8	1.0^c
Catholic	33.3	1.36 (0.87 - 2.12)
Evangelical protestant	30.1	1.19 (0.75 - 1.89)
Other	50.0	1.89 (0.76 - 4.67)
Schooling (n= 346)
College complete and incomplete	25.2	1.0^c
Complete and incomplete high school education	35.7	1.25 (0.87 - 1.80)
Literate/incomplete elementary school	38.5	1.30 (0.72 - 2.38)
Employment status
Remunerated Activity	31.1	1.0^c
Unemployed	33.3	1.00 (0.60 - 1.62)
Housewife	33.9	1.00 (0.68 - 1.41)
Student	13.8	0.37 (0.14 - 0.94)
Family income (in MW)^a (n= 346)
≤ 1	26.7	0.70 (0.36 - 1.34)
2 - 3	34.9	0.97 (0.52 - 1.81)
4 - 5	33.3	1.0^c

Federação Brasileira das Sociedades de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia Av. Brigadeiro Luís Antônio, 3421, sala 903 - Jardim Paulista, 01401-001 São Paulo SP - Brasil, Tel. (55 11) 5573-4919 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: editorial.office@febrasgo.org.br

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[1] Address for correspondence Patrícia Figueiredo Marques, MSc, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Avenida Carlos Amaral, 1015-Cajueiro, 44.570-000, Santo Antonio de Jesus, BA, Brazil (e-mail: pfmenf@ufrb.edu.br; pfmenf@yahoo.com).