[Study on the unintended pregnancy among married women of child-bearing age living in Qingshan district, Wuhan]

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of unintended pregnancy (UP) and exploring the risk factors of UP for married women of child-bearing age from Qingshan district, Wuhan.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was adopted in this study. Cluster sampling method was used with 3256 women recruited, in 2010. Information on history and risks related to social-demographic factors of UP were collected, using a self-administered questionnaire.

Results: Of the 3256 participants, over half of them (53.8%) reorted ever having had the history of UP and 9.1% reported UP in the past year. Rate of UP in the past year for different age cohorts (18-30, 31-40, 41-49 years) were 31.8%, 10.5% and 1.8% respectively. The most frequently reported reason for UP across all the age cohorts was "Did not use any contraceptive methods", with proportions on the reason that reported by women at 18-30, 31-40 and 41-49 year-olds, were 69.7%, 51.1% and 42.4% respectively. The second frequently reported reasons for UP were "Failure of traditional contraception" for younger cohort (18-30 years: 13.0%) and "IUD dropped or pregnancy with IUD" for older-age cohorts (23.4% at 31-40 year-olds and 37.0% at the 41-49 year-olds). The most frequently cited reason for "Did not use any contraceptive methods" was "Believe we were lucky so far, not to get pregnant" (59.6%). The risk factors of UP were being at older age, experiencing sex debut at younger age and got married at younger age.

Conclusion: The prevalence of lifetime UP history was high among women at child-bearing age from Qingshan district, Wuhan. Reproductive health services and interventions should be taken according to the needs from different age cohorts of women. Younger cohort of women should receive more attention.