Is home-based administration of prostaglandin safe and feasible for medical abortion? - Results from a multisite study in Vietnam

Objectives To study the efficacy and acceptability of a simplified medical abortion regimen in Vietnam. Design Open-label study. Setting One peri-urban and three urban hospitals and four urban maternal-child health family planning clinics located in Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam. Sample A total of 1601 women seeking abortion services from January 2001 to December 2001. Methods Consenting women presenting for abortion services with gestations less than 56 days LMP who met the inclusion criteria were given 200 mg mifepristone and offered the choice of either home or clinic administration of 400 mug oral misoprostol two days later. Main outcome measure Complete abortion rate of 89.2% (n = 1395), with 1.5% (n = 24) of the women lost to follow up. The majority of women (> 90%) reported that their medical abortion experience was either 'very satisfactory' or 'satisfactory'. Results There was a strong preference for home administration of misoprostol, with more than four-fifths of the study population selecting to administer the prostaglandin at home. Location of misoprostol administration did not affect efficacy rate. Regardless of location selected, women expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the medical abortion experience. Conclusions Medical abortion with the option of home administration of misoprostol is safe and feasible for introduction into the Vietnamese healthcare system.