INDUCED-ABORTION IS NOT A CAUSE OF SUBSEQUENT PRETERM DELIVERY IN TEENAGE PREGNANCIES

To examine the possible impact of previous induced abortion on the occ urrence of preterm delivery in the subsequent pregnancy in teenage wom en, a retrospective case-control study was performed on mothers aged 1 3-19 years who delivered in one tertiary hospital over a 4 year period . Those who had a history of induced abortion prior to the index pregn ancy were identified from the records and compared with a control grou p without previous induced abortion and who were matched for maternal age and parity. Of the 118 cases thus identified, 28 (23.7%) had more than one induced abortions and 18 (15.3%) had one or more induced abor tions in the second trimester. There were 10 (8.5%) para 1 cases. No s ignificant differences could be demonstrated between the study and con trol groups in the maternal demographics, major pregnancy complication s, or perinatal outcome, except for the incidence of smokers which was significantly higher (39.0 versus 14.4%, P < 0.02) in the study group . The number of previous induced abortions did not appear to be relate d to the incidence of preterm labour, which was 10.2 and 8.5% in the s tudy and control groups respectively. Our findings indicate that previ ous induced abortion is not a significant cause of preterm labour and delivery in teenage pregnancies.