Ectopic pregnancy and its associated risk factors: a case-control study in Qazvin

Ectopic pregnancy (EP) occurs in 1.5-2% of all pregnancies and it is the important cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester. The aim of this study was to evaluate EP risk factors in Kowsar hospital in Qazvin.

In this case-control study, 200 pregnant women with sonographic and pathological diagnoses of ectopic pregnancy in Qazvin Kowsar hospital in 2017 were assigned to the case group and 200 pregnant women with no delivery problems were assigned to the control group. The sampling method in this study was based on complete enumeration. All demographic and midwifery data were extracted from the records in the hospital archive. Data were analyzed by t-test, chi-square, and logistic regression in SPSS software version 22. P<0.05 was considered significant.

The mean age of the study population was 30.45±6.51. About 41.8% of the mothers underwent medical treatment with methotrexate, 56.6% of them underwent salpingectomy and 1.5% of them were discharged with personal consent. There was a significant relationship between the incidence of the ectopic pregnancy and using contraception, previous abortion, using in vitro fertilization, congenital diseases, infertility problems, previous pelvic inflammatory disease, previous EP, previous surgical history and hypothyroidism (P<0.05).

The present study also showed that EP was more likely to occur in patients with history of EP, abortion, PID, surgical procedures, infertility and hypothyroidism. Therefore, it is recommended that women should undergo health care before pregnancy and further studies are required to provide solutions to reduce the cases of EP.