Social and Medical Characteristics of Neonates Who Were Abandoned in a Tertiary Maternity Hospital in Turkey

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of neonates who were abandoned in a tertiary maternity hospital and to determine the accompanying morbidities. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based, retrospective descriptive study was conducted by evaluating the medical records between 2012 and 2019 in a tertiary hospital in İzmir. Results: During the study period, there were 76 women who left their babies in the hospital following delivery. Median age of the mothers was 23 (range 12-44) years. Among them, 31.5% (n = 24) were below 18 years of age. Seventy-three of the pregnancies (96%) were unwanted, 67 of the mothers were unmarried (88.16%), of which 17 revealed a history of rape (22.36%), and 2 of them were victims of incest (2.63%). Thirty-six (47.36%) neonates were female and 36 of them (47.36%) were delivered by cesarean section. The mean gestational age was 37.3 ± 2.2 weeks and the mean birth weight was 2927 ± 572 g. Twenty-one (27.63%) babies were born prematurely and 15 (19.73%) had low birth weight. Four babies (5.26%) had hypoglycemia, 3 (3.94%) had hyponatremia, 5 (6.57%) had hypocalcemia, and 3 (3.94%) had hypomagnesemia. Conclusion : Unwanted pregnancies were found to be one of the key reasons for newborn abandonment and linked to a higher risk of complications for both mother and child. To prevent unintended pregnancy and its negative effects, it is important to ensure that all adolescents have access to high-quality education in a safe and supportive learning environment, school-based health services, and increase access to contraceptive services, including emergency contraception and safe and legal abortion services.