The Incidence of Ectopic Pregnancy in the City and Hackney Health District of London, 1990–1991

Summary

In a retrospective study in the City and Hackney Health District, between 1 September 1990 and 31 August 1991, there were 106 ectopic pregnancies, 474 histologically confirmed spontaneous pregnancy failures, 2244 legal abortions and 4047 deliveries. The incidence of ectopic gestation was 1.54 per cent of all known pregnancies, 2.62 per cent of all deliveries, and 2.13/1000 per year of all women of childbearing age. These rates are among the highest reported in the world literature. There was a greater percentage of Afro-Caribbeans in the ectopic pregnancy patients (56.8 per cent, compared with 34.5 per cent in a control group, P < 0.001), and the patients with ectopic pregnancies were more likely to have had suction terminations of pregnancy – 30.8 per cent, compared with 12.5 per cent of the controls (P < 0–001). Previous ectopic pregnancy was more common in the ectopic pregnancy group, 9–9 per cent versus 2.0 per cent in controls (P < 005).