Previous induced abortions have been associated with adverse birth outcomes. However, only a few studies have considered the possible influence of gestational age at induced abortion. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the impacts of gestational age during prior induced abortion(s) on subsequent births among first-time mothers in Finland.
First-time mothers (n = 418 690) with singleton births between 1996 and 2013 were identified from the Finnish Medical Birth Register and linked to the Abortion Register. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the risk (odds ratio [OR] and 95% confidence interval [CI]) of birth outcomes such as prematurity, low birthweight, perinatal death and small for gestational age (SGA).
Higher risk was determined for extremely preterm birth (OR 2.28; 95% CI 1.53-3.39) and very low birthweight (OR 1.62; 95% CI 1.22-2.16) in women having had late-induced abortion(s) (=12 gestational weeks) compared with women having had early-induced abortion(s) (