Conference abstract
The determinants of induced abortion among women in Ukraine, results of 2007 survey
Anastasia Baranovska, Julia Barska
BACKGROUND. In Ukraine, an estimated 8.5 million induced abortions have been performed during the years of independence. To examine the reproductive health of Ukrainians, the National Health Survey was conducted in 2007 as a nationally representative cross-sectional survey involving 6841 women and 3178 men aged 15-49. Based on the survey data we aimed to identify the determinants of induced abortion.
METHODS. The sample for analysis included 4953 women that have ever been pregnant. As an outcome measure we took induced abortion as the result of the last pregnancy versus all other pregnancy outcomes (live births, miscarriages, and stillbirths). Independent variables included age at the time of pregnancy, region, type of place of residence, religion, time since the end of pregnancy, age at first intercourse, whether first intercourse was at first marriage, and number of previous pregnancies. The first step of the analysis was conducted using the bivariate analysis (crosstabulation and chi-square test). The multivariate analysis was done using the binary logistic regression (backward conditional methods).
RESULTS. In multivariate analysis, only five variables were associated at the 0.05 level: region, type of place of residence, religion, age at the time of pregnancy, and number of previous pregnancies. Women from the Western regions and those who live in large cities were less likely to have an induced abortion at the last pregnancy. With the increasing of age and number of previous pregnancies the risk of having an induced abortion at the last pregnancy increases as well.
CONCLUSIONS. Women of older age groups, who already have children, those living in smaller settlements and in non-Western regions, are at increased risk of induced abortion. These groups are to be considered while developing programs to facilitate access to effective contraception.
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