Usual hospital care versus post-abortion care for women with unsafe abortion: a case control study from Sri Lanka

Table 1 Comparison of the emergency treatment received by women with unsafe abortions (Cases = 171) and women with spontaneous abortion (SA-controls = 638)

Emergency treatment		Cases		SA-controls	Significance
Emergency treatment	No.	%	No.	%
*Removal of retained products:*
Time since admission to treatment*
Too long	28	16.4%	72	11.3%	ϰ² = 3.2; df = 1
Appropriate	143	83.6%	566	88.7%	p = 0.07
Procedure used
Medical induction	25	14.6%	124	19.4%	-
Surgical removal	126	73.7%	464	72.7%
Both surgical & medical removal	0	0.0%	15	2.4%
None	20	11.7%	35	5.5%
Surgical removal within 24 hours**	80	63.5%	253	52.8%	ϰ² = 4.6; df = 1
Surgical removal within 24 hours**	80	63.5%	253	52.8%	p = 0.03
Anaesthesia for surgical removal**	106	84.1%	442	92.3%	ϰ² = 7.76; df = 1
Anaesthesia for surgical removal**	106	84.1%	442	92.3%	p = 0.005
*Supportive care:*
Intravenous antibiotics given	156	91.2%	198	31.0%	ϰ² = 198; df = 1
Intravenous antibiotics given	156	91.2%	198	31.0%	p = 0.00
Pain relief given	159	93.0%	585	91.7%	ϰ² = 0.3; df = 1
Pain relief given	159	93.0%	585	91.7%	p = 0.5
*Intravenous fluids/products given:*
Blood	54	31.6%	4	0.6%
FFP/cryo/platelets	23	13.5%	0	0.0%
Normal saline	106	62.0%	158	24.8%
Hartman	34	19.9%	18	2.8%
5% dextrose	18	31.6%	20	3.1%

*Length of time, as perceived by the patients.
**Includes 126 unsafe abortions and 479 spontaneous abortions who underwent a surgical procedure.
p value in bold print, if significant at 0.05 level.

ISSN: 1472-6963