Unintended Pregnancies, Their Outcome and Prior Usage of Contraception in Georgia

BACKGROUND: Unintended pregnancy (UPr) with high rates of subsequent abortions remains an important problem around the world. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of UPrs in Georgia, their outcomes, and use of modern and traditional methods of contraception in women who terminated their UPrs by induced abortion (IAb) and identify potentially associated factors. METHODS: A Cross-sectional study, using stratified multistage sampling design, was conducted from Oct 2010 through Feb 2011. By secondary data analysis in selected group of women (n=2692) association of predictor variables: area of residence, age, level of education, economic status of woman, ethnicity, and religion with independent variables: UPr, termination of UPr by IAb and prior usage of modern and traditional methods of contraception were examined. Descriptive statistics methods and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used. RESULTS: In Georgia, from the 2692 interviewed women who had a pregnancy, 1068(39.7%) had a UPr in 2005–2010; the majority (n=913; 85.5%) of these UPr ended in an IAb. 31.4% (n=287) of those women used any method of contraception, with the majority (n=213; 74.2%) using a traditional method. With UPr were associated area of residence, level of education and age (P>0.05); with termination of UPr by IAb-ethnic origin (P<0.05); with use of contraception –area of residence, age, level of education, ethnicity and religion and with use of modern methods of contraception – age (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Low rates of modern contraception use prior UPrs, terminated by IAb demands attention by healthcare providers. Factors associated with these outcomes shall be used to identify target group of women.