A prospective study of severity of complications associated with use of misoprostol and other abortion methods in South West Nigeria

Objectives To assess the severity of complications following misoprostol used to induce abortion compared with other methods among women admitted for postabortion complications. Methods A cross‐sectional study of women who presented with complications of induced abortion at nine secondary and tertiary hospitals in South West Nigeria between April 1, 2013 and May 31, 2014. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted and information on the current admission was extracted from patient records. Associations between abortion method used and severity of abortion complications were evaluated using χ 2 and Fisher exact tests. Results Of 522 women included in the study, 177 reported an induced abortion: 41 women (23.2%) had used misoprostol at the first attempt to induce abortion, whereas 79 (44.6%) women had undergone surgical abortion. Occurrence of fever ( P =0.06), bleeding ( P =0.3), and lower abdominal pain ( P =0.32) was not significantly different between the misoprostol and surgical abortion/other methods groups. Severe complications were rare with misoprostol, but more common among women in the surgical abortion/other methods group. Maternal mortality occurred only among women in the surgical abortion/other methods group. Conclusion Use of misoprostol for induced abortion was associated with fewer complications and no maternal mortality compared with surgical abortion/other methods.