Outcome of first delivery after 2nd trimester two-stage induced abortion. A controlled historical cohort study.

In a historical cohort study the outcome of the first birth after a legal 2nd trimester two-stage abortion induced with saline or prostaglandin F2 alpha was evaluated for 142 nulliparous and 65 parous women. The birth-outcome was compared with that for 180 parity-matched control women and for all women in Sweden 1975. No statistically significant differences were disclosed with regard to means of infants' birthweight and length of gestation, or to occurrence of low birthweight (LBW) infants and preterm deliveries. The nulliparous women with a previously induced abortion tended, however, to have more LBW-infants than did the other nulliparae . More LBW-infants were born to the 29 nulliparae with a previous abortion induced with prostaglandin than to the 113 nulliparae having abortions induced with saline (p = 0.11); otherwise no noteworthy differences were found in the birth-outcome for the 39 women with a previous abortion induced by prostaglandin, compared with the 168 having abortions induced by saline.