Turkish Archives of Pediatrics
Original Article

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

1.

Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Health Sciences, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkey

2.

Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, İzmir Katip Çelebi University Faculty of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey

3.

Social Services Unit, University of Health Sciences, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkey

4.

Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Health Sciences İzmir Faculty of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey

Turk Arch Pediatr 2023; 58: 480-484
DOI: 10.5152/TurkArchPediatr.2023.23040
Read: 870 Downloads: 394 Published: 04 August 2023

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of neonates who were aban- doned 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 aban- donment 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.

Cite this article as: Sattarova S, Yekta Öncel M, Üstün H, Karabulut Gencay S, Engür D. Social and medical characteristics of neonates who were abandoned in a tertiary maternity hospital in Turkey. Turk Arch Pediatr. 2023;58(5):480-484.

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