Some sociologic and psychologic observations on abortion

American Journal . of Obstetrics and Gynecology VOL. 39

JUNE, 1940

Original SOME

SOCIOLOGIC

Communications AND PSYCHOLOGIC ON ABORTION”

A STUDY VIRGINIA

(From

the

of

No. 6

OF

537

OBSERVATIONS

CASES

M.D., NEW YORK, N. Y.

CLAY HAMILTON,

Departmentof Medicine [New

Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York University and the Obstetrical and Gynecological Service of the Third York University] Szlrgical Division, Belleme Hospital)

College

T

HAT induced abortion is primarily a sociologic and psychologic problem is self-evident. If conditions did not exist which make offspring undesirable, to the particular woman at the particular time, there would be no induced abortion. If every married woman felt her family budget sufficient to provide satisfactorily for unlimited children, if there were no social stigma associated with illegitimacy, the incidence of induced abortion would, no doubt, be reduced to a fraction of its present magnitude. The relative nature of economic and social pressure must be stressed. An income which would seemample for four children to a woman accustomed to one standard of living would seemto another hopelessly inadequate for one. Illegitimacy is accepted in certain social groups with no more than a passing sneer, in others it means ruin to the mother and lifelong handicap to the child. Other, more subtle, factors play a part in the problem. These, too, vary from group to group and from woman to woman within the group. Aleck Bourne has recently presented an analysis of these factors in an address to the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society which for clarity and good sense excels any similar discussion known to the author. *Aided by a grant from The National at a meeting of Round Table Discussion mittee on Maternal Health, Inc., January

Committee on Maternal Health, Inc. Group, under auspices of the National 31, 1940.

NOTE: The Editor accepts no responsibility for thors as published in their ‘ ‘ Original Communications. 919

the

views ’’

and

statements

Read Com-

of au-

Social.

and I)syvthict factors are less ohviousl\- rela.tecl tc+ Ncrcrtheless their indirect infhlence ~JJast hv acknowledged. Dramatic, MSPH in which violent emotions, fear. grief, anger, arc folIowed b>- fhtr immediate onset, oi’ lilhor pains aJJd vaginal bleeding, are well authenticated. These are the exception. That thch mixed psychologic and sociologic factors of poreri,y, toil. anxiety. tlcf~live diet, and neglected 1~~1th cont,ribute to spontancolls abort,ion, whih more difficult to prove, appear obvious. That. 1hese Factors art! often iIleffectiVe in interrupting pregnancy is, of course, shown by the Illlr~lher of children carried to term by worncln who ar(’ hurdened by them all. It is 1U1necessar.vto point out the I~I;~~oJ’ importance of the abortion problem. The estimates of its magnitude as presented ronservat,i\el> by Taussig are too familiar to he repeated here. The reason that thcscl estimates arc so familia,r is that Tal~ssip’s is nc+l-ually the OJ$V hook in the English language which even att,empts a comprehensive itnal,vsis of the subject. Considering its great social significance, it is tJwl>. incredible that so little has been written about ahortion. The extent 01 our ignorance is boundless. That is the only excuse for present.ing tlt(~ crnde and incomplete data offered here. In a fairly diligent, search for series comparable to t,he present on(‘, only 14 papers which analyze groups of casesadmitted t,o hospital nnd(~l the diagnosis of “abort.ion ” and which offer any descriptive data on the sample of population involved have been found in the English and ,4merican medical literature of the past ten years. Even in these, t.he data are meager in the cstreme, color, marital statxls, and religion being usually all that is reported. The question of whether or not. ihc abortion was induced assumes paramount importance in the minds of most,inrest,igators. The nmjority, however, note t,he impossibility of certainty in obtaining an answer to this question. There is no reasonable doubt that many patient,s deliberat,ely and persistently lie in denying induction. Their mot,ives are fear of punishment or moral censure and//or loyalty to the abortionist whom t.hey consider their helper. There is also little doubt that ot.hers who admit, induction freely are the dupes of coincidence and have actually nndergonc a spontaneous abortion soon after taking a hot bath or a rup of ginger tea. Still others, in both groups and also in the group who ronvincinglv calairnthat they hare had a “miscarriage,” prove act.ually to he suffering from various pelvic conditions unassociated in any way with pregnancy. The latter group is partienlarly interesting because of its vitiation of any statistical study hased on the statement. of the patient about her past history. In our series of 537 casest,here were 67 (12.4 per cent1 Twenty-t,wo of these patients whose final diagnosis was “ tmt pregnant.” lvi]l go around for the rest of t,heir lives glibly telling all history takers that they had an “abortion. ” while 45 will as freely st,at,ethat they had a ” miscarriage. ” The difficulties in arriving at a correct appraisal of circumstances surrounding the abortion do not stop when t,he momentous quest.ion “inSpOntaneous

economic, abortion.

HAMILTON

:

ABORTION

921

duced ’ ’ or ‘ ‘ spontaneous ’ ’ is answered. Intentional deception, unintentional misinterpretation, and candid truth-telling mingle in varying proportions in the mass response to each question. Many of the answers undoubtedly represent the patient’s idea of what ought to be the case a.nd are a half-conscious attempt to deceive not only the investigator, but herself as well. The overwhelming majority of married women who said they loved their husbands is an example. The few who espressed dislike went against convention and did so with an effort. Conversely it is conventional for a single girl to abhor her seducer, hence those who declare that they “still love him” do so with bravado. The same applies to the statement of childhood experience. Those who loyally claim that they had happy homes and that their fathers provided amply for all their needs are probably far in excess of the actual number who were brought up under these idyllic circumstances. Recognizing the practical impossibility of disentangling the true from the false or equivocal and with the profound hurnility of an investigator who does not set up to be in any sense a sociologist or a psychologist, the author presents the following data in the hope that others who are better qualified may be inspired to dig more deeply into the mine which is here barely opened. Although the group who admitted drug or thermal induction conform clinically much more closely to those whom we believe to have had truly spontaneous abortions, and although a subgroup of those who denied induction, that subgroup which the examiner considered untruthful, conforms in most respects to the mechanically induced group, we have thought best in this particular study to make our classification purely on the basis of the patient’s statement. We are concerned here not, with treatment nor prognosis, but with motivation and behavior. The woman who soaks her feet in mustard water and takes pills has the same purpose in mind as the one who visits the abort,ionist. Hence OUI cases are divided into “induced” and “spontaneous ” according to t,he patient’s admission or denial that she voluntarily did anything with the intention of interrupting the normal course of her pregnancy. Beginning May 1, 1938 and continuing almost, daily until July 15, 1939, the author interviewed all but 50 of 537 consecutive patients who were admitted to the Gynecological Ward of Bellevue Hospital for symptoms associated with an interruption of pregnancy before the twentyeighth week. The 50 patients excepted were interviewed by Dr. Katherine Miller. Admission diagnosis included threatened, inevitable, incomplete, complete, and missed abortion and also 30 cases rrferred from the medical service for therapeutic abortion. An effort was made to see all patients within twenty-four hours of admission and before active treatment, as it was thought that they would talk more freely if they felt that the interview had some immediate bearing on the care they would receive. The interview was as nearly private as ward conditions would permit, and, when necessary to gain cooperation, the patients were assured that t.he information they gave was strictly confidential, would not be filed under their names, and would not be included in their hospital records. They were encouraged

922

AMERICLiK

JOURSAL

OF

OHSTXTRICS

ASI)

(;YNk:COI

,O(;J

to tell their stories freely. I)ut xvere interruptetl for nltswers IO specific. questions where those (lid tiot appear spontaneously. --\n efTor~ \v;ls made to refrain from leading questions. Each inter\-iew occupied front one-half to one hour and tllilny patients were visited repeatedly on successive days. ,.S e\ . era1 who denied induction at, the first questioning later admitted it. Two, w110 WI’C most, persistent in denial: in terminal tlelirium described their rspc~riencc~ with the abortionist. At the entl of the interview a notr of the examiner’s estimnt,e of the patient,‘s reliability was made. ‘lhr. falsc~, or doubtful applied principally 1.0 the statement of induction, since many patients appeared perfectl!(*andid in t,heir answers to all other questions, detceptive on that. poinialone. As a whole t,he group show~~d surprisingly little rrluctanc~r to cliscuss the intimate questiurls which were put, to them. A few SreIHr~cl tlisinalined to discuss their se’s lift>. These were not, prcssetl to do so. It seems hardly necessa I*;- i-o point, out the extreme sele~fion o\,idented by t,he very admission 01 t,hese patients to Rellevuc. This fat&t alone places the overwhelming majority in those much tliscussetl ’ \vhose fractions (Jf our tot,al population. the “ one-t,hirtl of n nation housing conditions art’ atrocious and the ” suhm crgecl tenth ” hrhoscb finances neyer were and l~ossibly nevtlr will 1x3 eonsisenl with e\.tllk a modest standard of c~omfortable living. The rmwistlotn of apl)lyinp any observation hertz ~~ctorded to any &her population group is selfevident. Ideas of economic: sufficiency arc relat,ive, however, humall nature does not, vary grc~atly and the same motires. reactions, and attitudes may be found, though donhtlrss in varying proporf iotIs in other groups of “higher society.” BIATERIAL

Our group consisted of 7X patirnts (29 per cent) who admittetl induction, Xl; (64.5 per cent) who den&l it? and 30 (5.5 per cent) who were referred for therapeutic abortion. Five, diagnosed “abortion” on admission, proved to have eetopic pregnancies and were included in the t.herapeutic group, raising it to 3.X Seventy-two per cent were married women, I? per cent single, and 16 per cent The low proportion of previously married (widowed, separated, or divorced). married women as compared to other series in this country (80 to 92.3 per cent) may be due to the high proportion of negroes in our sample (34 per cent). Of these, only 59 per cent were married and still living with their husbands. It ma> also be due to our classification, as in several of the other studies only two categories are considered, ever married and single. The latter classification would give us 88 per cent married ‘iromen, 92 per cent white married, and 68 per c?ent negro married. Among the married, rolor plays no significant part in the type of abortion. Twenty-two per cent, of the white married women admitted induction, 34 per cent of the negro. The difference in behavior between the white and negro single groups is significant. Sixty-four of the single white women admitted induction, while but 40 per cent of t,he unmarried negroes did so. Still more striking is the difference between the two previously married groups; the negroes behaving essentially like those still married (28 per cent), wl&e the whites showed nearly twice the frequency of induction (52 per cent) (Table I). Our patients varied in age from 13 to 49 years. Neither of the extreme cases was found to have heen pregnant. Although the little girl admitted coitus and although her mother had plied her with osytocics, the pathologic report established her diagnosis as cystic and glandular cndometrial hyperplasia. The older woman, though equally chagrined by the prospect of an addition to her family, proved to be suffering from fibromyoma uteri. The youngest actual abortion case was 1.5,

HAMILTON

TABLE

I.

PATIEIGT’S

STATEMENT VERACITY,

:

1 -. 9‘3

ABORTION

OF TYPE OF ABORTIOPJ, EXAMINER’s COLOR AND MARITAL STATUS --

-

--

-

=

-

k? 7

ESTIMATE

OF

ZEZI-

$ %

White Married Previously married Single

ul B 2 353 279

8 ; 2I

?sii36

46

Negro Married Previou,sly married Single Totals

79

-iz 39

I3 18 14

13

17

37

6 5 11

8 100 59 19

G 42 21 10

21 23 19 28

11 F 4 8

22 100

- 11 104 -

28 19

10 -7 -6

-s 25

27 24

E E - -8

112 108 2

32 39 4

2 46 38 5

7 25 35 14

3 15x --ilY

the oldest 47. As in all comparable series, the great majority (73 per cent) of patients were between 20 and 35. More than half (57 per cent) were between 20 and 30. The average age for all patients was 27.8 years. For those admitting induction it was nearly a year younger, 26.9. No appreciable difference in age distribution could be demonstrated between those giving a history of interference and those who denied it. Four hundred and twelve patients (77 per cent) were born in the United States, while 123 (23 per cent) were foreign born and the nativity of 2 was un stated. Eighty-five per cent of those admitting induction were native born. The average education of the group was 7.5 years grade school. There were, however, significant differences in educational attainment between native born and foreign born, and between the “induced” and “spontaneous” groups. The native born were the better educated in all groups classified according to type of abortion. More of those who admitted induction, fewer of those who denied it, had attained high school than expected (Table II). TABLE

II.

PATIENT’s

STATEMENT OF TYPE ~IENT OF THE WOMAN

OF ABORTION, AND

ZZ I CASE! 3

-.

Induced United Foreign 8pontaneous United Foreign Therapeutic United Foreign Totals United Foreign

States

States

States

States

COMPLETED

%

~~-~

100 156 132 85 24 -. ~-~-15 346 100 258 75 88 25 -~~~ 35 100 24 G9 11 -. 31 __~~,537 100 414 77 123 23

%

O/%Il-7 3 2 1 14 1 13 1

2 2 4 4 15 3

1 18 3 15

9 3 1 12

48 :34 14 109 69 40 10 5 5 lti7 108 59

31 2ti 5s 32 27 45 29 21 46 31 26 48

BY EDUCATIONAL

ATTBIN-

BY NATIVITY GRADES

_-

While considering nativity and education, we may hood experience of these patients and to their present and siblings. These dat,a, as has been said, are crude

as well turn relations with in the extreme

to the childtheir parents and largely

The sexual partners (husl~nnds or otherwise) of about one:-half 1.2 per cent’; of these patients were enll~l~~~~c~(l in private enterprise. An additional 2.5 per cent were employed un relief pr[lSjects or received regular government support of somta sort. The remainder were tither unemployed and not receiving relief (16 per cent) or else engaged in occupations unknown to the IT-uman or ullc,r,rlrnlllllic,:Itetl There was no significant difference in the emplo~mrni status to the examiner. of the male partners of the different albot,tion groups. &‘llen the numbtxr uf Ii\ ing children JT:LY correlated with the cmpluyment status of the man, the u~unl relationship was found: relief recipients had th+b nonrelief recipients next, and those empluyed in largest families, nneml~loye~l private enterprise the srnall~st. One hundred and ninety-one patients (35 l,er cent) had no living child; ,?!I ~wr cent had 1 or 2 c h’ldren 1 and the remaining 2.7 per cent had 3 or more. l’hc- tiistriljution elf living children was approximatrl~that of chance expectancy for thcX induced and spontaneous groups. Thus, two important. llot(Snti:L[ reasOns for induction, too large a family and low economic status, did not characterize tht, induced abortion group in a mann~1 and therapeutic groups. significantly different from thcL spontaneous When, however, we turn frrlm the employment, of the father to that. trf the lroman herself nTe lind a vhcllly different state of affairs (Table TTT’I. i\rtln)

%

Induc.ed (mechanical) Employed Unemployed Housewife Spontaneous (true) Emnloved U&ml;loyed -- Housewife (except All cases apeutic) Employed Unemoloved Housewiie *Including more than spontaneous mechanical compared,

-

ther

JZAl:RIICD

7~

-____~ 100 50 J! 4ti ~~~__ 100 27 7i ‘7

.> -_L,

SR

l&i 25 109 2

100 “4 751

__~~ 100

3 ($3

100

31 7 IT? _-

“8 Ii

79 7 277

100 21

2-o 2 76

6 students. expected of the induced group were employed while many more of the If the extreme groups, those who admitted group were housewives. induction and those who convincingly denied all interference, are we find that the proportion of the former who were employed is twice

HAMILTON

:

BBORTION

925

that, of the latter, conversely 46 per cent of the former and 71 per cent of the latter were housewives. Here, too, marital status was largely responsible for the difference. Employed married women were somewhat less frequent in the induced group. Overcrowding is often suggested as a potent cause for family limitation. Here again it must be remembered that the concept of overcrowding is relative. In our series the proportion of patients having more to those having less than two persons per room was practically the same in the induced and spontaneous groups. Thirty-six per cent of the induced group had more than 3 persons per room while this In this study a child, even a small baby, was true of 39 per cent of the spontaneous. was counted a person, hence the degree of crowding was less than would appear if “person-units” rather than persons were considered. But persons-per-room does not tell the whole story. A married couple may share a single room and not feel particularly overcrowded, whereas 8 persons in a four-room flat may ‘seriously interfere with each other’s activities. Persons per household may be a more important factor conducive to induction. As will be shown later, the majority of patients in all categories stated that they eonsidered two or three children an ideal number. Twenty per cent of the induced group had more than five persons in their househald, while 14 per cent of the spontaneous group were overcrowded in this sense. However, this grouping is probably not valid as a significant number of patients considered 4 or 5 ehildren desirable. Although nearly two-thirds denied having taken any active step to rid them selves of the fetus, only a little over one-third denied that they had reasons for wishing interruption. Forty per cent declared that economic considerations made the birth of the child undesirable; 52, or one-third of those not living in wedlock, were influenced by shame. Thirty-six gave ill health as a reason? 24 of these belonging to the therapeutic group. Twenty-three had ideas of family planning and an equal number gave a variety of other causes. Only 3 of these mentioned fear of childbirth as a motive. When asked if they would want a child, or an additional child, under more favorable conditions, the proportion just stated was reversed. A little over t,wo-thirds (including half of those who were then hospitalized hecause of induced abortion) said ‘ ‘ yes, ’ ’ while less than one-third said “no, they would have no such wish under any circumstances.” This is at variance with the response of Pearce’s English group. Only 25 per cent of these wished a child. The average prior parity of the previously gravid group was 1.5, prior gravidity was 2.4; previous abortions, 0.8 (induced 0.3, spontaneous 0.5). One hundred and twenty-three patients had never given birth to a viable child and 191 had no living child at the time of the interview. But when asked what would be an ideal number of children under most favorable circumstances only 5 stated that an O-child family would be desirable. The most popular size was the 2child family which 204 patients preferred. Eighty-four per cent were in favor of 2. to 4child families for those who were able to bear and care for them. In responding to this question which was, in effect, an invitation to build a castle in Spain, the indueed and spontaneous groups showed no significant difference. The ideal families of negroes and whit,es were substantially the same. The feelings expressed with regard to the current abortion were possibly largely influenced by convention. Two hundred and forty-eight patients expressed regret while 210 stated that they felt relief or satisfaction. Over half of the induced group gave voice:‘to the lat.ter state of mind, whiie 30 per cent of those who denied interference were also glad to be relieved of the prospect of a child. Twenty-three per cent of the induced said they regretted the termination of their pregnancy, as did 61 per cent of the spontaneous. Fourteen patients, 11 in the induced and 3 in the therapeutic group, expressed remorse. Twelve felt frightened by their condition. Since unhappy marital adjustment is sometimes thought to play a part in influencing a woman to reject pregnancy, our patients were questioned with regard to their feelings about their sexual partners and coitus. These questions were answered in most cases without apparent reserve or resentment at the in.

K7rion of priva,ay, bat, ii:, \v:~s sai11 rarliclr, the ans\\~r~ arts pt~ol~:O~l~ of litth value. They are presented fur what. they may be worth. The observed data RW closely in accord with chance r~xpt~ctancy, except for the high incidence of tlislike for the partner (33 per event ), expressed 1)~ the single women in thP inducf-cl group. Over 80 per cent of thr married women stated that they loved their huqbands. Seventy-three per crni of all patients frankly enjoyed coitus with their present partner. Eighty-seven per cent experienced orgasm rith hin7 though the majorit,y qualified their statement l,- “sometimes” or (‘occasionall,~.” (‘nital frequency varied greatly though the mode for all ages was “weekly or more but. less than daily.” Only 12 patient .u repclrted daily coitus. Three of these n’er~ in the 80 to 24 age group, 1 in the 2.5 to XI> 3 in the 30 to 33, and 1 in the 35 to 30. The other groups, “rnctnthl~tjut less than weekly” and “less than monthly,” were similarly unaffetted by :r$e :7lthough age was shown to pnrall~~l duration of sexual experience closely. One hundred and eighty-fonr of these patients (37 lter cent) denied over 11:7\-ing heard of the existence of llirth control clinics; 294 had heard of them from friends, relatives, doctors. nurses! or social agencies, Ijut had never visited one. Only 53 (10 per cent) had IJCW~ instructed iu the diaphragm and jell)- techniqnp. Kixteen of the latter were 71aing the method prior to this pregnancy, 1,771 fen attributed conception to its failure. Most of the 16 confessed neglect to protcci themselves on one or frecluent ~casions. In contrast to the relatively small numl)er who had availed Uternselves of medical counsel with rcg~rtl to contracaeption, only SR said that they or their husband were opposed to it on religious or ot,her grounds, and 3-K were usiug some method to prevent pregnanr~p at the time this rnnception was suppose11 to have occurred. An addjtio17al 24 had previously made contraceptive efforts but stated that they had suspended there for a planned pregnancy. One 1777ndratl and sixty-three denied any recent attempt to limit t,heir fertility, but 20 of tllr: 6’ acknowledged earlier contraception. leaving 143 who tlenied ever in their livt’s Fift--one of the nr)ncontr:l having used any method whattaver to this end. ceptors were primigravidas. Of the contraceptive methods used by patients who had had experienre with onlp one, douching was the most popular. Its 7me was reported by !KO. E’od ,t had relied on the condom ant1 31 on withdrawal. One hundred and forty-six, however, stated that the? had used 3 or 3 of these (douche, condom, withdrawal) alternately or in coml~~natinn. Onlv 39 reported thr use of other methi& (suppositories, pessaries, ‘* thl> rhythnl.” etc.) immediately preceding this pregnancy. All of the women were warned of the inadvisability of immediately l~~orning pregnant again regardless of their ultimate wish for a child. They were then questioned ahout their plans for avoiding this contingency. Two hundred and seventy-six (55 per cent) said they- would like to be referred to Birth Control Clinics and were thereupon given definite written directions as to the address Xinc were sterilized in connection and hours of the nearest clinir to t,heir homes. with therapeutic hpsterotomy. Sixty-nine (14 per cent) said they intended to abstain from coitus. Half of these were in the group who had induc,ed rrbortiorl and most were single. One hundred and sixteen (23 per cent) intended to return to their former habit of contraception or noncontraception, ant1 5 per cent ntatc(l &\-en I,*‘r that they intended to resume their efforts to ronceive imrnediatrly. c*tJrlt were untlecide~l :I); to their future fn77rse of action.

The single, the white, the employed, the nat,ire American, the more highly educated woman was found significantly more frequently in the group who admitted induced abortion than among those who denied it. Women who felt a sense of economic pressure or shame, those who expressed no desire for a child, and those who had practiced contraception intensively howheit ineffectively. were also significantly more frequent.

HAMILTON

:

ABORTIOS

927

Religious affiliation, age, prior gravidity, prior parity, previous abortions, number of living children, enjoyment of coitus, feeling for sexual partner, employment of the latter, childhood experience, emotional relation to parents and siblings, number of siblings, number of persons per room, concept of size of ideal family, although perhaps influential in individual cases, did not show statistically significant differences in the groups characterized by admission or denial of interference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The facts cited show that legal and religious disapproval mean little t,o the woman who is interested in limiting the size of her family. She uses such methods to prevent pregnancy as she and her partner know, and, when these fail, in many instances she takes drastic steps to rid herself of the fetus. The most obvious first step toward reducing the incidence of abortion would be to provide the woman, who has recently given proof of the seriousness of her desire to limit her family, with more reliable methods of contraception than those she has previously tried. There would be fewer abortions, both induced and spontaneous, if every postabortal patient were routinely advised to refrain from immediate pregnancy, instructed in the way of carrying out this advice and fitted with a pessary (provided she desired it and this method were suitable in her case) at her follow-up visit to the gynecologic clinic. Next in preference would be an intramural birth control clinic closely cooperating with the gynecologic and obstetric clinics. Since political and religious opposition render both of these plans unfeasible in many hospitals, the next best thing would be to offer every patient of this type a definite reference to the birth control clinic most convenient to her home. Popularization of the Aschheim-Zondek test and provision of this service at cost would reduce the incidence of “abortion” in the nonpregnant. Although greater access to contraceptive advice and early diagnosis in amenorrhea would cut down abortions to some extent, this is only a st,opgap approach to the problem. The ultimate steps in the prevention of abortion are: 1. Preferential community services to families with children. 2. Maternity leave for employed women. 3. Social and economic aid to unmarried pregnant women and responsible agencies to care for and place illegitimate children. 4. Sex education at all levels correlated with instruction in child care and cultivation of an understanding of the values of parenthood. Many intelligent young people now enter upon life with the negative dct,ermination to avoid having too many children but without the positive inclination to have enough. The former position is easily acquired from observation of their elders and discussion among themselves; the latter requires systematic and intelligent presentation by competent teachers. The author wishes to express her deep appreciation to Dr. William E. Studdiford for his cooperation and encouragement without which this study would not have been possible. Acknowledgement is also made to Dr. Regine Stix and Mr. Gilbert Beebe for advice in planning the study and to Mr. Murray Geisler for nit1 in the statistical analysis of the data.

REFERENCES (1)

.I. W.: Edinblir$ M. ,T., allay, 19::9. (2) lircorn
OBST.

Howne, &

WEIGHT

CHANGES

H. J. STANDER, (Prom

T

the Department

DURING

PREGNANCY

AND PUERPERIUM

M.D., AND J. B. PASTORE, M.D., NEW PORK, N. Y. of Obstetvics and Come11 Cnkersity

Gynecology,

Medical

The College)

&-ew

Fork

Hospital

and

HE observation that ge&ation is accompanied by a progressive increase in weight of the mother, beyond that directly and indirect13 attributable to the offspring, has continued to intrigue many investigators ever since Gassner first recorded this seemingly unnecessary The association of excessive weight increase in the weight gain. eclamptic syndrome, as shown by Zangemeister and several subsequent iyriters, adds further int,erest, to this problem. Of the numerous recent contributions that are of significance in eonne&ion with the findings in the present paper are those of Wodon, Evans, Siddall and Mack, McIlroy and Rodway, and Bray, to mention only some. Wodon directed attention to the importance of weight gain when expressed in terms of percentage of initial weight as contrasted with absolute weights. Bray emphasized the factors that do and those that do not influence weight gain. The English authors, a~ well as Siddall and Mack report the abnormal changes not-t>din certain of thus toxemias of pregnancy. As there appear to be marked differences in the published observations on gain and loss of weight associated with gestation and the puerperium in both normal and abnormal patients, we have deemed it advisable to correlate the weight changes during pregnancy and puerperium. It has been our routine practice, since September, 1932, to weigh all pregnant and puerperal patients at stated times, including those immediately before and after delivery.