Analysing the context and characteristics of legal abortion and comprehensive post-abortion care among adolescents aged 10–14 in a network of sentinel centres in Latin America: a retrospective cross-sectional study, 2016–2020

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the population aged 10–24 attended by the CLAP MUSA Network.

	Adolescents aged 10–14	Adolescents aged 15–19	Young women aged 20–24	Total	P-value for difference between age groups
Country	N = 632	N = 12,497	N = 24,405	N = 37,534
Argentina	12.0%	5.7%	6.4%	6.3%	<0.001
Bolivia	15.7%	9.8%	9.3%	9.6%
Brazil	-^a	0.3%	0.5%	0.4%
Chile	-^a	1.1%	1.9%	1.6%
Colombia	40.5%	48.5%	51.9%	50.6%
Cuba	12.8%	12.6%	9.6%	10.7%
Dominican Republic	7.0%	7.3%	5.5%	6.1%
Honduras	7.3%	6.7%	5.0%	5.6%
Mexico	1.0%	1.2%	0.8%	0.9%
Panama	1.0%	2.7%	3.3%	3.1%
Paraguay	-^a	0.14%	0.2%	0.2%
Peru	1.7%	3.94%	5.6%	5.0%
Legal context	n = 632	n = 12,497	n = 24,405	n = 37,534
Less restrictive	82.8%	80.6%	82.9%	82.1%	<0.001
More restrictive	17.3%	19.4%	17.1%	17.9%
Adolescent's/Woman's education	n = 629	n = 12,397	n = 24,169	n = 37,195
None	4.1%	4.2%	4.6%	4.5%	<0.001
Primary	24.8%	8.6%	6.5%	7.5%
Secondary+	71.1%	87.2%	88.9%	88.0%
Previous pregnancies	n = 576	n = 11,491	n = 22,219	n = 34,286
0	65.1%	39.6%	20.2%	27.5%	<0.001
1	33.7%	47.3%	41.9%	43.6%
2+	1.2%	13.0%	37.9%	28.9%
Previous births	n = 520	n = 10,921	n = 21,516	n = 32,957
0	97.1%	83.7%	55.9%	65.7%	<0.001
1+	2.9%	16.3%	44.1%	34.3%
Previous abortions (spontaneous & induced)	n = 521	n = 10,961	n = 21,432	n = 32,914
0	95.4%	83.2%	72.8%	76.6%	<0.001
1+	4.6%	16.8%	27.2%	23.4%
Gestational age	n = 533	n = 10,564	n = 20,444	n = 31,541
≤ 14 weeks	83.3%	91.9%	93.1%	92.5%	<0.001
≥ 15 weeks	16.7%	8.1%	6.9%	7.5%
Type of care sought	n = 609	n = 12,024	n = 23,647	n = 36,270
Legal abortion	70.0%	67.6%	67.8%	67.7%	0.481
Post-abortion care	30.0%	32.4%	32.2%	32.3%
Pregnancy intention	n = 557	n = 11,088	n = 21,260	n = 32,905
Unintended pregnancy	94.8%	91.4%	91.1%	91.2%	0.007
Intended pregnancy	5.2%	8.6%	8.9%	8.8%
Use of contraceptives prior to becoming pregnant (method failure)	n = 555	n = 10,547	n = 20,650	n = 31,752
None used	92.3%	87.1%	81.7%	62.0%	<0.001
Barrier	4.5%	5.9%	6.2%	4.5%
IUD	-^a	0.5%	1.0%	0.6%
Hormonal	2.7%	5.9%	10.1%	6.3%
Emergency	-^a	0.5%	0.6%	0.4%
Natural	0.0%	0.2%	0.4%	0.2%

^a Data suppressed to protect privacy.

Table 2. Institutional adverse event rates.

	Adolescents aged 10–14	Adolescents aged 15–19	Young women aged 20–24	p value
Pre-procedure complications	619.1	413.3	343.6	<0.001
Intra-operative complications	40.2	16.0	27.4	0.005
Near miss	30.4	68.7	87.7	<0.001

Table 3. Proportion of cases aligned with WHO recommendations among adolescents aged 10–14.

	Number of cases assessed (denominator)	%
Complete documentation of personal and family medical history^a	632	91.1%
Complete documentation of laboratory tests conducted^a	632	85.6%
Complete documentation of the clinical exam (vital signs, clinical exam, gynaecological exam)^a	632	89.1%
Administration of prophylactic antibiotics
Appropriate use, according to WHO recommendations	584	70.4%
Possible underuse, according to WHO recommendations	584	21.8%
Possible overuse, according to WHO recommendations	584	7.9%
Use of a recommended uterine evacuation method
≤ 14 weeks	439	98.6%
≥ 15 weeks	87	87.4%
Cervical preparation conducted, if appropriate
Appropriate use, according to WHO recommendations	517	76.4%
Possible underuse, according to WHO recommendations	517	6.4%
Possible overuse, according to WHO recommendations	517	17.2%
Provision of post-procedure counselling and guidance
Basic care	548	100.0%
Warning signs	540	100.0%
Contraception	506	99.8%
Pre-discharge contraceptive initiation
Contraceptive method initiated prior to discharge	515	68.2%
Contraceptive method initiated if counselling received	502	67.9%
Contraceptive method selected
IUD	351	13.4%
Implant	351	39.6%
Oral contraceptive	351	7.4%
Injectable	351	35.0%
Condom or other barrier method	351	2.6%
Other/No data	351	2.0%

Source: CLAP MUSA Network SIP-Abortion, 2016–2020.

^a Composite variables.