Low birth weight subsequent to induced abortion. A historical prospective study of 948 women in Skopje, Yugoslavia.

In the fall of 1972, interviews were conducted with 948 Yugoslavian women whose first pregnancies had been terminated by induced abortion (222) or delivery (726) during 1968-1969. Subjects were indentified from records of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic of Skopje University, Macedonia. Subsequent pregnancies were studied to determine the relative effects of first-pregnancy abortion or delivery on incidences of adverse outcomes. No significant difference were found between first-pregnancy aborters and deliverers for subsequent conception rates, spontaneous abortions, or low-birth-weight rates. The data suggest that while induced abortion of the first pregnancy did not protect against the greater risk of low birth weight for a primiparous birth, neither did it increase that risk. The high proportion of women who denied their abortion raises questions about results of retrospective abortion studies which depend on patient recall.