A 5-Year Review of Adolescent Gynecological Emergencies in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Abeshi Sylvester E, Ago Boniface U, Emechebe Cajetan I, Njoku Charles O

BACKGROUND- Over the last decade, increased advocacy has been drawn towards the need for focused attention on women’s health as an index of a nation’s development. Adolescent gynecology is a unique subspecialty that encompasses the reproductive health care of girls and young women under the age of 20years. With the increasing economic downturn, easy access to the internet and social media, the adolescents are more vulnerable to life style changes that expose them to reproductive health challenges. Periodic review of cases managed in any health facility gives an insight on the way forward in confronting encountered challenges. OBJECTIVES- To highlight the trends of gynecological emergency cases presented at this facility in the background of exploits by the adolescents in recent times. METHODOLOGY- This was a retrospective study carried out in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Cross River State, South-South Nigeria. The case folders of patients were retrieved from the records unit of the department. Information onage, level of education, marital status, occupation, contraceptive use, sexual relationshipsand presenting complaints were collected, collated, inputted and analyzed using Epi-info version 7 and presented in tables as frequencies and percentages. RESULTS- The hospital attended to over 4,849 gynecological cases over the 5year period. Adolescents made up 2,584 (53.3%) cases, of which 2052 (79.4%) were emergencies. The common presentations were incomplete abortion/miscarriage 880(42.9%), pelvic inflammatory disease 630 (30.7%), ectopic pregnancy 268(13.1%), abnormal vaginal bleeding/abnormal menses 193(9.4%), and sexual assault 81(3.9%). CONCLUSION- Adolescents encounter lots of challenges with issues of reproductive health,which may have a huge impact on their future fertility. As this group is often either uninformed or misinformed, additional attention is needed the safeguard their reproductive health.