The problem of illegally induced abortion: results from a hospital-based study conducted at district level in Dar es Salaam

Illegal abortion is known to be a major contributor to maternal mortality T he objective of the study was firstly to identify women with illegally indu ced abortion, (IA) and to compare them with women admitted with a spontaneo us abortion (SA) or receiving antenatal care (AC), and secondly to describe the circumstances which characterized the abortion. The population of this cross-sectional questionnaire study comprised patients from Temeke Distric t Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. After an in-depth confidential intervi ew, 603 women with incomplete abortion were divided into two groups: 362 wo men with IA and 241 with SA. They were compared with 307 AC women. IA women were significantly younger, more of ten better educated, unmarried, nullip arous and students than AC women. Regarding civil-status, educational level , proportion of nullipara and proportion of students, SA patients were simi lar to AC women. These results lend support to the assumption that the in-d epth confidential interview made it possible to distinguish IA women from S A women.