THE EFFECT OF SPONTANEOUS AND INDUCED ABORTION ON PREMATURITY AND BIRTHWEIGHT

Abstract

Summary The effect of previous induced or spontaneous abortions on prematurity (defined as a gestational age of less than 37 weeks) and birthweight was studied in 4847 babies born consecutively at Alexandra Maternity Hospital, Athens, Greece. It was found that the incidence of prematurity is more than two‐fold in women with one or more induced or spontaneous abortions when compared to those without abortions. Our results also showed that the inverse relationship between the mean birthweight and the number of induced or spontaneous abortions is misleading, because of the high correlation between birthweight and gestational age. It is therefore concluded that intrauterine growth of the fetus is probably not affected by previous abortions.