Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy in a population of Cameroonian women: A case-control study

To identify the risk factors for ectopic pregnancy (EP) in a population of Cameroonian women.

We performed a matched case-control study; 88 women with diagnosed EP (cases), and 176 women with first trimester intrauterine pregnancy (IUP) (controls), who underwent questionnaires. Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and adjusted for potential confounding factors via multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Of the fifteen identified risk factors, 4 were independently associated with increased odds of EP: prior pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 13.18; 95% CI 6.19-27.42), followed by current use of levonorgestrel-only pills for emergency contraception (LNG-EC) (AOR 10.15; 95% CI 2.21-46.56), previous use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) (AOR 3.01; 95% CI 1.04-8.69) and smoking at the time of conception (AOR 2.68; 95% CI 1.12-6.40).

The present study confirms the wide variety of EP's risk factors. Moreover, some new findings including current use of LNG-EC, previous use of DMPA, smoking at the time of conception are noteworthy. Thus, in our limited resources country where prevention remains the cornerstone for reducing EP chances of occurrence, clinicians should do enough counselling, especially to women with known risk factors. The necessity to facilitate access to more equipment to enable early diagnosis of EP is very crucial and should be seriously considered, in order to reduce the burden of EP in Cameroonian women.