Background: Unsafe
abortion is frequent in our community and invariably; the majority of these
cases become septic and present late at the hospital. We decided to study,
among other things, the factors responsible for late presentations among these
patients with the attendant frequency of complications and the outcome of management
of these complications. Method: This was a prospective study that was conducted
from January 2010 to June 2014 in the Gynae Unit of the Benue State University
Teaching Hospital, Makurdi. All the patients who presented with complications
of unsafe abortion were included in the study. Results: In the three and half
years period of the study, the total Gynae admissions were 652. There were 82
cases of induced abortions which give an incidence of 12.5%. Age range of the
patients was 17 - 48 years, with a mean of 29 years. More than half of the
patients presented 2 to 3 weeks after the initial procedure 51 (62.2%), while
only 10 (12.2%) presented within 1 week. The commonest reason for late
presentation was the desire to maintain secrecy 54 (65.9%) though majority gave
more than one reason 68 (82.9%). Majority of the patients were single, of low
parity, belong to the lower socioeconomic group and were not using any form of
contraception. Thirty-seven patients (45.1%) presented with severe genital
sepsis while 29 patients (35.4%) presented with heavy vaginal bleeding due to
incomplete abortion. Five patients (6.1%) presented in shock due to excessive
bleeding while 4 (4.9%) patients had uterine perforation and intra-peritoneal
haemorrhage. Two patients (2.4%) had gut injury following uterine perforation.
Two patients (2.4%) developed uterine gangrene. There were also three cases
(3.7%) of peritonitis due to pelvic abscess. The maternal motility in our study
was 3 out of 82 cases (3.7%). Conclusion: Induced septic abortions are a
significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. Improving accessibility
to hospital care, increasing literacy rate in our female population and
effective family planning, women empowerment and utilizing several resources to
develop awareness of the hazards of induced abortions in the community will
lead to a reduction in its incidence.
Cite this paper
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