Prevalence of ectopic pregnancy in surgical patients at a tertiary hospital in Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Ectopic pregnancy is the most common cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester of pregnancy. Presentation is usually late especially in the developing countries of the world. Surgery is the preferred management modality compared to other management options because of challenges with monitoring in cases of un-ruptured ectopic pregnancies. The estimated global prevalence of ectopic pregnancy is 1-2%%. Aim: To determine the prevalence of ectopic pregnancy in surgical patients at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH). Method: This study was a one-year retrospective research of Surgical (Surgery and Obstetrics/gynaecology departments) patients who had ectopic pregnancy at the RSUTH. The patients comprised of all the consecutive cases of the surgeries in these departments for the period under review. Permission for the study was obtained from the Head Department of obstetrics and gynaecology RSUTH. Structured profoma was used to extract information from patients’ case notes and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Result: The subjects for the study were 250, comprising of 98 (39.2%) males and 152 (60.8%) females. The age range was 22 years to 56 years. The mean age was 31 years of which 132 (52.8%) were obstetrics and gynaecological surgeries while 118 (47.2%) were non-gynaecological surgeries; 16 (6.4%) had ectopic pregnancy of which 12 (4.8%) were ruptured and 4 (1.6%) were unrutured. All the patients that had ectopic pregnancy had laparotomy with salpingectomy. Conclusion: The prevalence of ectopic pregnancy in surgical patients at the RSUTH was 6.4%. Majority of the patients present with ruptured ectopic pregnancy. All of the patients had surgical intervention (emergency laparotomy with salpingectomy)