Unexpected pregnancy and relative factors in pregnant women referring to Mashhad maternity wards in 2004

Uncontrolled population growth is actually an important threat to both the future health of the environment and economy. Decreasing the rate of fertility is considered as a vital index towards establishing smaller families, stabilizing population growth, and wellbeing. The present study was done to determine the frequency of unexpected pregnancy and factors related to it. This descriptive study was done on pregnant women referring to Mashhad maternity wards in 2004. A total of 400 pregnant women who had referred to maternity wards of Mashhad hospitals were selected through cluster sampling. Their individual fertility behaviors and their contraceptive measures were recorded by means of a questionnaire and then analyzed by SPSS using 2 and t test at the significant level P<0.05. Totally, 143 cases (35.75%) had unexpected pregnancy and the rest 257 cases (64.25%) had planned pregnancy. In unexpected pregnancies mean marital age, mean first pregnancy age, mean number of children, and mean maternal age were higher than those in mothers with planned pregnancies respectively (P<0.001). Variety of contraception methods was more in unexpected pregnancies. Type of contraception and husband’s cooperation in family planning were also significantly different between the two groups (P<0.001). Interrupted intercourse was the most common method of contraception in unexpected pregnancy group. More than one-forth of those who had unexpected pregnancies were unaware of emergency methods of contraception. Reduction in unexpected pregnancies requires promoting general informational systems, improving family planning services; medical and health care staff attention to giving advice about applying contraceptive methods and the relevant complications of unexpected pregnancies and a more effective role of men in family planning.