Sium Abraham Fessehaye, Getachew Abrham, Tufa Tesfaye
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
Research Directorate Office St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
Public Health Chall. 2025 Jul 29;4(3):e70087. doi: 10.1002/puh2.70087. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Recent evidence suggests that providers who continue to use digoxin for induced fetal demise prior to later medication abortion should consider patient preferences in how they offer digoxin and consider tools to ensure patient understanding. This study aimed to qualitatively determine patients' experiences with induced fetal demise using digoxin injection prior to later medication abortion.
This was a qualitative study of women who had induced fetal demise with digoxin injection prior to later medication abortion in Ethiopia, in 2023. The participants were interviewed about physical and emotional experiences with digoxin and their understanding of its purpose in the immediate post-abortion period, before they were discharged from the hospital. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis on One Code software.
A total of 20 participants were included in this study. The two overarching themes identified from the qualitative interviews were as follows: (1) emotional discomfort and varied understanding of digoxin's purpose; (2) digoxin injection-related physical discomfort. Participants had a shared feeling of discomfort carrying a demised fetus after digoxin administration till the abortion process was completed. A significant proportion of them (8/20, 40%) described induced fetal demise as a procedure to shorten the abortion process.
Findings of some patients' physical and emotional discomforts of digoxin injection to induce fetal demise in our study are consistent with findings in previous qualitative studies.
最近的证据表明，在后续药物流产前继续使用地高辛导致胎儿死亡的医疗服务提供者，应在提供地高辛的方式上考虑患者的偏好，并考虑使用工具确保患者理解。本研究旨在定性确定患者在后续药物流产前使用地高辛注射导致胎儿死亡的经历。
这是一项对2023年在埃塞俄比亚进行后续药物流产前使用地高辛注射导致胎儿死亡的女性进行的定性研究。在参与者出院前，就其使用地高辛的身体和情感体验以及对其在流产后即刻目的的理解进行了访谈。使用One Code软件进行主题分析对数据进行了分析。
本研究共纳入20名参与者。定性访谈确定的两个总体主题如下：（1）情绪不适和对地高辛目的的不同理解；（2）与地高辛注射相关的身体不适。参与者在注射地高辛后直至流产过程完成期间，都有一种怀着已死亡胎儿的共同不适感。其中很大一部分人（8/20，40%）将诱导胎儿死亡描述为一种缩短流产过程的程序。
我们研究中一些患者使用地高辛注射诱导胎儿死亡时的身体和情感不适的发现与之前定性研究的结果一致。
