In order to evaluate the obstetric attitude
towards immigrant women, we analyzed the clinical
data of 544 immigrant women who delivered at
the 2nd Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, between 1983
and 1993. The ages of the women ranged from 15
to 47 years with an average of 27.6 years; 36.5%
and 34% came from Africa and Eastern Europe,
respectively, and 23.2% and 6.3% came from Asia
and South America, respectively.
Most of the births (84.2%) occurred within the
normal gestation period; 15.8% of the patients
gave birth prematurely. Normal deliveries accounted
for 75% of the total; operative deliveries were subdivided as follows: cesarean section 22.2%, vacuum extraction 1.3% and forceps 1.1%.
The neonatal mortality rate was 1.1% of all births.
Maternal complications in the postpartum and the
puerperium period were rare: one incident of
thrombophlebitis of the lower limbs and two cases
of retained placenta. The most serious complication
was a metrorrhagia associated with widespread
intravascular coagulation
