The unanticipated pregnancy: a preliminary study

To guide clinical judgements regarding possible pregnancy in women seen for nonpregnancy concerns, 75 pregnant women tested for pregnancy confirmation were compared to 31 women with pregnancies diagnosed when tested to clarify undifferentiated symptoms. Symptom clarification patients were more often unmarried (74.2% vs 37.3%, P less than 0.001), unemployed (54.8% vs 14.7%, P less than 0.0001), uninsured (54.8% vs 25.3%, P less than 0.004), black (67.8% vs 45.3%, P less than 0.04), using contraception (45.2% vs 22.7%, P less than 0.02), and carrying unwanted gestations (77.4% vs 34.7%, P less than 0.0001). Symptom clarification patients had a median 2 pregnancy symptoms versus 3 for pregnancy confirmation patients (P less than 0.001), less often reported amenorrhea (25.8% vs 6.7%, P less than 0.01) or breast tenderness (38.7% vs 66.7%, P less than 0.01), but more often experienced abdominal pain (45.2% vs 17.3%, P less than 0.003). Thus, symptom clarification patients are often earlier in gestation with fewer pregnancy symptoms, or may differ in how they perceive and interpret such symptoms when present, findings consistent with a tentative hypothesis that symptom clarification patients may not have anticipated being pregnant.