Clinico-Demographic Profile and Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes of Rape Related Pregnancy in Western Visayas Philippines

Context: Pregnancy as a consequence of rape is a continuing and significant public health issue1. In this study, we explore the association between the clinico-demographic profiles and maternal and neonatal outcomes of rape-related pregnancy in Western Visayas Philippines. Method: We conducted an analytic cross-sectional study in two Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) maintained women’s shelters in Western Visayas Philippines from February 2017 to June 2017. The validated questionnaire was divided into five parts: socio demographic profile of the pregnant residents; maternal and neonatal outcome of the pregnancy identified; perpetrator of the mother; custody of the newborn; and psychiatric consult. Only chart review was done by the DSWD Social Worker in charge of the Record Section to complete the research tool. Upon completion, the social worker turned over the data to the researcher. The researcher encoded and analyzed the data using SPSS trial version 21. Results: Records of 41 women who were admitted to the shelter were included. Most of them (90.2%) were teenagers’ ages 10 to 19 years old. They did not graduate high school (80.6%), no occupation (87.9%) and no income (82.9%). None of the 41 women were subjected to psychiatry check up during the prenatal period. Maternal outcome includes: undergone Cesarean section (14.6%); maternal complications (9.7%) and psychiatric diagnosis post-delivery (14.6%). Neonatal outcome includes: mortality rate of 2.4% and neonatal sepsis (43.9%). The rape incidents were incestuous (51.2%) and most of the newborns were transferred to other centers for placement (41.5%). Conclusions: The result of this study indicates that there is a need for a multi- disciplinary clinical and social management and planning for survivors of violence against women and children.