Induced abortion and low birthweight in the following pregnancy

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Abstract
Background To examine whether induced abortion increases the risk of low birthweight in subsequent singleton live births. Methods Cohort study using the Danish Medical Birth Registry (MBR), the Hospital Discharge Registry (HDR), and the Induced Abortion Registry (IAR). All women who had their first pregnancy during 1980–1982 were identified in the MBR, the HDR, and the IAR. We included all 15 727 women whose pregnancy was terminated by a first trimester induced abortion in the induced abortion cohort and 46 026 women whose pregnancy was not terminated by an induced abortion were selected for the control cohort. All subsequent pregnancies until 1994 were identified by register record linkage. Results Low birthweight (Conclusions The findings suggest a positive association between one or more first trimester induced abortions and the risk of low birthweight in subsequent singleton term live births when the interpregnancy interval is longer than 6 months. This result was unexpected and confounding cannot be ruled out.

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