Unintended Pregnancy and its determinants in pregnant Women with short interpregnancy intervals

Background: Unintended pregnancy is defined as either unwanted or mistimed. It poses a significant global public, clinical and social health challenge particularly in resource limited settings. Objective: To assess the frequency and determinants of unintended pregnancy in pregnant women with short interpregnancy interval(<6months). Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was done in obstetrics and gynecology department of Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College/Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital, Sialkot from April 2024 to September 2024. A total of 170 pregnant women with an interpregnancy interval of less than 6 months were enrolled through non-probability consecutive sampling. All women were interviewed for unintended pregnancy using London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancies. A pregnancy was labelled unintended when score was 0-3 on the London measure of unplanned pregnancies. Frequency and percentage were computed for qualitative variables such as education, economic status, and unintended pregnancy. Mean ±SD was determined for quantitative variables including age, gestational age, and birth interval. Determinants of unintended pregnancy like age, parity, gestational age, education, residential status and economic status were measured. The Chi-square test was used, and a p-value of ?0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. Results: Unintended pregnancy was seen in 49.4% of the pregnant women. Mean age 27.035±3.88 years, mean gestational age 17.941±5.37 weeks and mean birth interval was 3.617±1.15 months. Majority 78% of pregnant women have parity 2 and 76% were residing in urban area. Educated respondents were 75% and 28% had poor socioeconomic status. Education and socioeconomic status were the main determinants of unintended pregnancy. A significant difference was observed between unintended pregnancy and participants with no formal education (p<0.001) and those with poor economic status (p<0.001). Conclusion: High rate of unintended pregnancy was observed among pregnant women who lacked education and belonged to a lower economic class.