Misoprostol Treatment of Mid Trimester Incomplete Abortion by Midwives and Doctors in Uganda.

Overview

It is estimated that 47,000 women die every year due to consequences of unsafe abortion globally. The majority of pregnancy related deaths occur in low income countries where induced abortion is restricted, unmet need for contraception is high, and women's status is low. Uganda has a high total fertility rate of 5.4 children per woman, low contraceptive prevalence rate of 39%, and more than half of these pregnancies are unintended. Induced abortion is controversial and restricted in Uganda and legally permitted only to save a woman's life. As a result, women often resort to unsafe abortion- that's either performed by a person lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimal medical standards. Of the estimated 314,304 women who undergo unsafe abortions each year in Uganda, about 41% receive treatment for complications. This equates to an annual rate of 12 per 1,000 women aged 15-49 years being hospitalized for induced abortion complications, which is considered high in international comparison. In Uganda, outside the larger hospitals and private settings, access to safe post abortion care and surgical facilities are scarce. Studies have showed that trained midwives can deliver safe, effective and acceptable post abortion care using misoprostol in the first trimester. Currently in Uganda, treatment of second trimester incomplete abortion is restricted to physicians. This study will provide evidence on whether treatment for incomplete abortion using misoprostol by mid-level providers can be extended to the early second trimester period. The investigators hypothesize that misoprostol treatment for incomplete second trimester abortion provided by midwives is equivalent to that of physicians requiring no further surgical intervention. Women with incomplete abortion will be randomly allocated to undergo a clinical assessment and treatment with misoprostol either by physician or midwife with safety and effectiveness as main outcomes in the RCT carried out in hospital and high volume health centres in Central Uganda.

This randomized controlled equivalence trial (RCT) implemented at eight hospitals and Health centres in Central Uganda will include 1192 eligible women with incomplete abortion of uterine size \>12 weeks up to 18 weeks. Following informed consent, each participant will be randomly assigned to undergo a clinical assessment and treatment by either a midwife (intervention arm) or physician (control arm); receive 400mcg of misoprostol administered sublingually 3 hourly up to 5 doses within 24 hours at the health facility until a complete abortion is confirmed. Women who do not achieve a complete abortion within 24 hours will undergo a surgical method of uterine evacuation. Pre-discharge information on danger signs, contraceptive counselling and provision will be done with follow up 14 days later to assess secondary outcomes and acceptability. Analyses will be by Intention-to-Treat (ITT). Background characteristics and outcomes will be presented using descriptive statistics. Differences between groups will be analyzed using risk difference (95% CI) and equivalence established if it lies between the pre-defined range of -5% to +5%. Chi-square test will be used for comparison of outcome and t test used to compare mean values. P-values equal to or lower than 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.