Reproductive history of Chilean puerperal women hospitalized in a public hospital of the metropolitan region

BACKGROUND: Maternal and infantile morbidity is closely related to the features of women's reproductive history. AIM: To study the reproductive behavior of women hospitalized due to labor or abortion in a public maternity of Metropolitan Santiago. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One thousand women were interviewed about their reproductive behavior, 24 to 72 hours after pregnancy resolution. RESULTS: Ages of interviewed women ranged from 13 to 47 years old. Eighty seven percent had three children or less. The proportion of single women with a first pregnancy was 62% and decreased to 9.3% in those with a second pregnancy. At the first pregnancy, 1.3% of women were using contraceptives, notwithstanding that 27% did not want to become pregnant. Most women had a birth spacing of 24 to 59 months. There was a low number of stillbirths in this sample. CONCLUSIONS: This work shows that studied women have pregnancies at low risk ages and an adequate parity.