Ten year survey of the deliveries of immigrant women residing in Rome

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.