The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #41565

Jennifer Blum, MPH¹, Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc, MD², Vu Quy Nhan, MD, PhD³, Tran Thi Phuong Mai, MD⁴, and Beverly Winikoff, MD, MPH¹. (1) Population Council, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017, 212 339 0614, jblum@popcouncil.org, (2) Medical Director, Hung Vuong Hospital, 128 Hung Vuong Street, Ho Chi Minh City, Q5, Vietnam, (3) Vietnam Office, Population Council, 2 Dang Dung Street, Hanoi, Vietnam, (4) Dept of MCH/FP, Ministry of Health, 138 Giang Vo Street, Hanoi, Vietnam

We will present results from a large multi-site study of 1600 Vietnamese women using medical abortion. All consenting women presenting at a study site with a gestation less than 56 days LMP were offered a simplified medical abortion regimen consisting of 200 mg mifepristone on day one and 400 mcg oral misoprostol on day 3 (either at home or at the clinic). Clinical data were collected at the study sites and all women were asked to keep a diary card to record their experiences outside of the clinic. dditional information about their experiences, such as side effects and patient acceptability was collected during the closing interview. Preliminary results show that approximately 90% of women (Home users: 88.0%, Clinic users: 92.8%) successfully aborted using this regimen. Home use of misoprostol was extremely popular in this study, with 88% of women choosing to administer their misoprostol at home. We noted a strong preference for home administration of misoprostol, with more than four-fifths of the sample population (86.6%) selecting to administer their prostaglandin at home. Women indicated that home administration is desirable because it is more convenient (57.6%), they have no time or money to cover transportation to the clinic for additional visits (20.3%), and the method offers them more control over their abortion (21.0%). Regardless of the site they selected to administer their misoprostol, women in this study expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the method.

Learning Objectives:

• Name five reasons why Vietnamese women may prefer a medical abortion with home use of misoprostol,
• Describe how counseling procedures may affect medical abortion success rates,
• Identify three ways that medical abortion training can be improved to better prepare new providers to offer the method.

Keywords: Abortion, Reproductive Health Research

Related Web page: www.popcouncil.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: The Population Council holds the U.S. rights to Mifepristone.
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.