Northern Ireland Termination of Pregnancy Statistics 2018/19
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Date published:
The Department of Health (DoH) today published statistics relating to medical abortions and terminations of pregnancy during 2018/19.
The statistical bulletin presents information on the number of medical abortions and terminations of pregnancy during 2018/19.
The information release is published on the Department's website.
Key Points
- There were 8 terminations of pregnancy in HSC hospitals in Northern Ireland during 2018/19. This was four less than the previous year (Table 1). It should be noted that due to small numbers, relatively large fluctuations may be expected from year to year.
- All of the 8 terminations of pregnancy during 2018/19 were carried out on women normally resident in Northern Ireland (Table 3).
- During 2018/19 there were 5 terminations of pregnancy carried out on women aged 30 years and over, one termination of pregnancy carried out on a woman aged 25 to 29, and two on women aged 24 and under (Table 4).
Notes to editors:
- The source of this information is the HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland.
- The structure of the terminology used within the UK National Clinical Coding Standards ICD-10 4th Edition (2013) Reference Book is as follows:
- Abortion: The term abortion means the expulsion or extraction of all (complete) or any part (incomplete) of the placenta or membranes (products of conception) without an identifiable foetus or without a liveborn infant, or stillborn, before the 24th completed week of gestation. This covers a range of codes within the ICD-10 structure and includes ‘missed miscarriages’ (the retention of a dead foetus before 24 completed weeks of gestation, with no signs of abortion), spontaneous abortions (known miscarriages) and terminations of pregnancy.
- Medical Abortion: The term medical abortion within the confines of the use of the ICD-10 code O04 – Medical Abortion equates to the interruption of a live pregnancy for legally acceptable, medically approved conditions. It also includes re-admission with retained products of conception following a previous termination of pregnancy only.
- Termination of Pregnancy: This is defined as any patient who has a live pregnancy terminated for Northern Ireland legally acceptable, medically approved conditions. This is a subset of the term ‘medical abortion’.
- Following a public consultation carried out by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, the UK National Clinical Coding Standards were revised for 2013. As a result, the definition of ‘medical abortion’ has been significantly altered. The revised definition (provided in point 2) has been applied throughout the UK from 1 April 2013. The change in definition of medical abortion has resulted in a break in the time series of medical abortions; consequently, figures from 2013/14 onwards are not comparable to figures for before then. There has been no change to the definition of a termination of pregnancy.
- Further information on Northern Ireland Terminations of Pregnancy is available from:
Hospital Information Branch
Department of Health
Annexe 2, Castle Buildings
Stormont, BT4 3SQ
Telephone: 028 9052 8452
Email
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