Estimating The Annual Abortion Rate in Kerman, Iran: Comparison of Direct, Network Scale-Up, and Single Sample Count Methods

Objective Abortion is a sensitive issue surrounded with social, cultural and religious stigma. Therefore, estimation of its prevalence involves methodological challenges. The aim of this manuscript is to estimate the abortion prevalence, stratified by type, using direct and two indirect methods. MaterialsAndMethods : In a cross-sectional study in 2016, we recruited 1020 women aged 18-49 years. Three methods were applied to estimate the prevalence: direct question, Network Scale Up (NSU), and single sample count (SSC). In the direct estimate, to guarantee anonymity, data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. For other methods, data were collected through gender-match street-based interviews. Results The estimated annual rate of abortion in direct and NSU methods were 29 (10 intentional, 4 therapeutic and 15 spontaneous) and 23(9 intentional, 3 therapeutic, and 11 spontaneous) per 1000 women aged 18-49respectively. The annual rate of intentional abortion based on SSC method was higher than other methods, 15 per 1000 women. Conclusion Current estimates are higher than previous ones. The results of three methods more or less support each other confirming internal validity of our estimates.