Determinants of unintended pregnancy and its impact on the health of women in some governorates of Upper Egypt

Abstract EN

-Background/aim Worldwide, more than half of all unintended pregnancies end in abortion, indicating the preference for increasingly smaller families.

The present work aimed to assess the determinants of unintended pregnancy and its impact on women’s health in El Fayoum and Benisuef governorates.

Participants and methods A community-based cross-sectional household survey was conducted among 827 married women of reproductive age.

The study was conducted in two governorates, El Fayoum and Benisuef, for a period of 6 months.

Results The current study revealed that 15.9% of women who participated in the study had an unmet need for family planning, with subsequent unintended pregnancy.

Higher age of women and her age at the time of marriage, illiteracy, short interpregnancy spacing, exceeding the desired number of children, negative attitude of husbands toward the use of family planning methods, and absence of discussion between partners on the use of means to postpone pregnancy increased the number of unintended pregnancies.

Also, women with unintended pregnancy were at a higher risk of experiencing health problems during her pregnancy.

Conclusion Despite the efforts taken by family planners, the problem of unintended pregnancy continues to increase in Egypt, with its adverse effect on pregnancy and maternal outcomes.

Therefore, the strategy for maternal mortality reduction in Egypt should focus on addressing the unmet needs of high-parity, uneducated, nonworking women.