بررسي ميزان حاملگي ناخواسته و عوامل مرتبط با آن در زنان تحت پوشش مراكز بهداشتي درماني شهرستان بوشهر در سال 1382

Prevalence of unwanted pregnancy and its related factors in the women covered by health centers in Bushehr province in 2003

Background: Unwanted pregnancy rate is counted as one of the health indices and causes an increase in the prevalence of illegal abortion which has its natural complications, and a high level of depression in mothers which results in less attention and care about the infant. Methods: In order to reveal the prevalence of unwanted pregnancy, women who referred to one of the health centers in Bushehr province were evaluated in a cross-sectional study. A total of 712 women in urban health centers and 288 women in rural health centers were chosen using simple random sampling method. Results: The prevalence of unwanted pregnancy was 24% (23.9% in urban health centers and 24.3% in rural centers) and most of them were over 35 years old (54%) with elementary or secondary level of education (53.3% and 37.1%, respectively) and their husbands were mostly over 35 years old (44.3%) with none or elementary education (66.7% and 39.6%, respectively). The prevalence of the problem was higher in housewives and the wives of workers. The most used contraceptive methods were withdrawal (41%), oral contraceptive pills (21.3%) and condom (13.8%). Conclusion: The prevalence of unwanted pregnancy in Bushehr province is the same as the other provinces of the country and is more frequent in women more than 35 years old and with low level of education. Though these women used different contraceptive methods, constant training on the correct way of using these methods is highly recommended in health center training programs.