Abstract

Background: Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is a life-threatening condition and a gynecological emergency which affects one in every 80-100 pregnancies. Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy identified in previous studies include low level of education, two or more lifetime sexual partners, smoking, prior history of vaginal discharge, previous use of intrauterine contraceptive device, tubal corrective surgery, tubal sterilization, previous history of induced abortion, early age of sexual debut, inconsistent condom use, multiple sexual partners, infertility, previous pelvic or abdominal surgery and previous genital infections.

Objective: We sought to identify/determine the factors associated with ectopic pregnancy at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) Gynecological ward.

Methods: This was an unmatched case-control study carried out at MRRH involving 25 cases and 76 controls. Cases were women treated for ectopic pregnancy and the controls were women with normal intrauterine pregnancies from the antenatal clinic. Information on their sociodemographic, sexual and reproductive characteristics was obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire. Serological evidence of prior chlamydial infection was determined in both groups by testing for the presence of Chlamydia immunoglobulin G antibodies in their blood. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with ectopic pregnancy. The significant level of < 0.05 was used. Odds ratios and their corresponding 95% CIs were provided at both univariate and multivariate analysis.

Results: The factors associated with ectopic pregnancy included history of previous abdominal/pelvic surgery (aOR 6.9; CI: 1.47-32.98; p=0.000) being a single woman (aOR 12.0; 2.21-65.32; p=0.0026) and presence of Chlamydia antibodies with Odds ratio (O.R 4.9; CI: 1.15-21.29; p=0.002)

Conclusion: The factors associated with ectopic pregnancy included history of previous abdominal/pelvic surgery, being a single woman and prior chlamydia trachomatis infection.