[Unwanted children: incidence and characteristics among puerperal women in a hospital of Santiago]

Abstract

A scoring instrument to detect unwanted newborns was applied to 556 living-in women at a Santiago urban hospital in december 1987. Based upon previous research a scoring instrument including 10 items was designed and applied within 24 hours following delivery. According to the total score each newborn was classified as wanted (W), unwanted (U) or doubtful situation: 37.6% of children were born to unwed mothers. In a total of 556 children 4.5% (n = 25) were classified as U, 91.4% as W (n = 508) and 4.1% as doubtful (n = 23). Comparing U and W children the former had mothers with poorer education, higher frequency of bad relationships with their partners as well as higher proportion of three or more previous deliveries and late beginning of prenatal care (significant). On the other hand no significant differences were detected in age distribution of the mothers or their socio-economic level. The applicability of this scoring system and the magnitude and importance of the problem are analyzed and discussed. The need for further research on the natural history of the sequence unwanted pregnancy-unwanted child is stressed.