Background: ABORTION is a public health concern because of its impact on maternal morbidity and mortality. Each year, about 79 million unintended pregnancies, excluding miscarriage, occur worldwide. More than half of these unintended pregnancies end in ABORTION. The purpose of this study was to determine the ever-event incidence of ABORTION (SPONTANEOUS and INDUCED) and some related factors in a population-based sample of reproductive age women. Methods: From July 2003 through January 2004, 2470 women were included in the study through multistage random sampling and were interviewed. Data were collected using a checklist with questions about demographics and specific items regarding ABORTION history. Information about age, literacy, gravidity, marriage age, ABORTION, type of ABORTION, family history of ABORTION, history of family marriage, smoking, drug use, alcohol use, coffee intake, and incidence of ABORTION during the previous year were recorded. Statistical analysis included Student’s t-test, Chi-square, ANOVA, and logistic regression using SPSS software. Results: Out of the 2,470 women in the study, 775 (45.7%), had at least one ABORTION in their lives. Of the women who had an ABORTION, 20.6% reported INDUCED ABORTION and 74.2% reported SPONTANEOUS ABORTION. Forty-one point four percent of women aged 45 years and older had at least one ABORTION in their lifetime. Fifty-one (2.1%) women had a history of ABORTION during the previous year; the largest proportion was 5.4% for the age group 15 – 24 years. The most common method of INDUCED ABORTION in the previous year was dilatation and curettage (42 to 67%). In multivariate analysis, household number, coffee consumption, gravidity, smoking, and history of ABORTION in the family were the most important factors related to ABORTION in the different age groups of women. Conclusion: This study shows that the occurrence of at least one ABORTION in the life of women in our setting is high and varies by age group. There is a need for expanded comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, and more education and accessibility of contraception methods.

Introduction Recurrent SPONTANEOUS ABORTION (RSA) is one of the most common complications in reproductive ages. Several factors such as genetic, anatomical, and endocrine disorders, infection, and environmental and immunological factors have been involved in RSA. In cases of ABORTIONs, whose reasons are known, the chance of success in pregnancy can be increased after the elimination of the defective factors; but, in women with a history RSA with an unknown reason, there is an imbalance in the regulatory mechanisms of immune cells, and even the pattern of immunological cells changes in these women. Actually, an inappropriate immune response is often associated with pregnancy loss. Immunologic factors involved in patients with RSA have gradually been identified, using diagnostic methods and several studies. The present study was conducted with the aim of reviewing RSA immunology and new findings in this field. In this study, more than 40 articles on immunologic factors involved in RSA were reviewed. Conclusion Based on the current findings related to the immunology of pregnancy, due to the extensive role of the immunologic factors in this disorder, more accurate identification of the functional role of each immunologic factor becomes more important. Also, new therapeutic approaches will be addressed to the researchers in this field based on the changes in the function of immune system.

Human parvovirus B19 is a very common viral infection especially in school-aged children. The infection during pregnancy can affect the fetus due to lack of mother’s immunity. Although, there is still no evidence of fetal teratogenic effects with parvovirus B19, but non-immune fetal hydrops and ABORTION may be caused by vertical transmission of the virus during pregnancy. This study was aimed to assess the PREVALENCE of parvovirus B19-specific antibody (IgM) in pregnant women who had a SPONTANEOUS ABORTION. This crosssectional study was carried out in all pregnant women who referred due to a SPONTANEOUS ABORTION. All demographic information such as age, occupation, and gestational age, last history of ABORTION, gravity, and presence of children below the age of six was recorded and a blood sample was provided for all the women. Then, the blood samples were tested to assay parvovirus B19-specific antibody (IgM) by EuroImmune ELISA kit. Among 94 pregnant women with the mean age of 28.4 years who had a SPONTANEOUS ABORTION, parvovirus B19 specific antibody (IgM) was detected in 17 participants (18.1%). Meanwhile, 14 women (14.9%) were suspected for presence of the antibody in their blood sample. There was no significant difference between the presence of antibody and age of pregnant women, occupation, gestational age, number of previous ABORTION, presence of children below the age of six and number of pregnancy. These findings revealed that a high percentage of pregnant women are probably non-immune against parvovirus B19, and also there might be a number of SPONTANEOUS ABORTIONs in which parvovirus infection caused fetal death. However, more studies are needed to prove the absolute role of parvovirus B19 in these ABORTIONs.

Background: ABORTION and loss of pregnancy in the first trimester may affect maternal mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to determine the severity of post‑ ABORTION stress in SPONTANEOUS ABORTION, INDUCED ABORTION, and Forensic Medical Center (FMC) referral ABORTIONs immediately after ABORTION and after 1 month of follow‑ up in Shiraz, Iran, in 2018. Materials and Methods: This cross‑ sectional study was conducted on 104 mothers selected through convenience sampling method in 2018. The data collection tools included a demographic characteristics questionnaire and the Mississippi Post‑ Traumatic Stress Disorder (M‑ PTSD) Scale that were filled out by mothers immediately and 1 month after the ABORTION. Data were analyzed using one‑ way ANOVA and post‑ hoc LSD test in SPSS software. Moreover, p < 0. 05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The mean (SD) of post‑ traumatic stress scores was 83. 87 (18. 35) and 77. 40 (9. 88) in SPONTANEOUS ABORTION, 82. 28 (13. 27) and 75. 71 (14. 73) in FMC permitted ABORTIONs, and 86. 66 (10. 10) and 74. 98 (12. 99) in INDUCED ABORTIONs immediately and 1 month after ABORTION, respectively. Stress was reduced in the three groups of mothers, after one month of severe value. The score for frequency of stress was 3. 10% in FMC‑ permitted ABORTIONs and 5. 10% in INDUCED ABORTIONs; moreover, no stress was observed in the SPONTANEOUS ABORTION cases. Conclusions: Stress was gradually reduced over time. The level of PTSD was lower after 1 month in women who had experienced SPONTANEOUS ABORTION. Given that 1 month after ABORTION, women are still often moderately stressed, follow‑ up care, and appropriate counseling for these women are necessary.

Background: SPONTANEOUS ABORTION is the most common adverse pregnancy outcome. We aimed to investigate a possible link between nutrient deficiencies and the risk of SPONTANEOUS ABORTION.Materials and Methods: This case-control study included the case group (n=331) experiencing a SPONTANEOUS ABORTION before 14 weeks of pregnancy and the control group (n=331) who were healthy pregnant women over 14 weeks of pregnancy. The participants filled out Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), in which they reported their frequency of consumption for a given serving of each food item during the past three months, on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The reported frequency for each food item was converted to a daily intake. Then, consumption of nutrients was compared between the two groups.Results: There are significant differences between the two groups regarding consumed servings/day of vegetables, bread and cereal, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, fats, oils and dairy products (P=0.012, P<0.001, P=0.004, P<0.001, P=0.019, respectively). There are significant differences between the two groups in all micronutrient including folic acid, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and zinc (P<0.001).Conclusion: Poor nutrientions may be correlated with increased risk of SPONTANEOUS ABORTION.