Epidemiological Study of Ectopic Pregnancy among Pregnant Women in Yazd, 1999

Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is the most common cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester. 10% of maternal death is due to EP and only one-third of women with previous ruptured ectopic pregnancy could have a normal delivery in future. Research about prevalence and risk factors of this kind of pregnancy, could help early diagnosis and treatment of EP and improve the prognosis of fertility rate in the future. In this retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional study, seventy-two patients with EP diagnosis admitted and treated in Yazd hospitals were studied. The data were collected using a questionnaire and hospital records. Sonography and laparoscopy confirmed the diagnosis. The data were analyzed by SPSS using Chi-Square test. 11176 pregnancies were recorded in Yazd between March 1999 and March 2000 and seventy-two of these pregnancies were ectopic. So prevalence of EC in yazd was found to be 0.5%. Most of the patients (58 cuses) were 20 to 39 years old. 52.8% of the patients had primipar. 25% had a history of one to three times abortion. From 43 patients who used contraceptive, 19 ones used OCP (oral contraceptive). 39 patients had a history of previous surgery, 7 patients had a history of EP and 25 patients had a history of treatment of infertility. The most common symptom of patients was abdominal pain. Only 4 out of 72 patients were treated with a medical method using methotraxe and the rest of them were operated. Three out of these four patients were finally obliged to undertake surgery. The prevalence of EP was 0.5%, which is lower than the national scale.