Trends in Ectopic Pregnancies in Eastern Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background . The objective of this study was to estimate trends in ectopic pregnancies (EP) in a tertiary care center of Eastern Saudi Arabia. Method . Information about patients with ectopic pregnancies who had been admitted to King Fahd Hospital of the University, AlKhobar, between January 2000 and 31 December 2011 was collected from a computerized hospital registry. Age-specific ectopic pregnancy incidence was calculated. The data was analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), version 14.0 (Chicago, IL, USA). Results . There were 274 EPs during the study period; the yearly incidence in terms of 24,098 deliveries was 1.19%. The average age was 28.99 Å 5.62 years. During a three-year period (2000–2002), the incidence was 0.92%; from 2003 to 2005, the incidence was 1.01%; from 2006 to 2008, the incidence was 1.51%; and from 2009 to 2011, the incidence was 1.35%. Age-adjusted ectopic pregnancy incidence rates steadily increased from 92.23 per 10,000 women years during the period 2000–2002 to 149.408 during the 2006–2008 period; since then, it has declined to 110.313 per 10,000 women years. Conclusions . Our study reveals that the incidence of EP has decreased from what it had been during the mid-2000s but has remained significantly elevated when compared to the early 2000s.