Updated Estimates of Ectopic Pregnancy among Commercially and Medicaid-Insured Women in the United States, 2002-2013.

OBJECTIVES

To update trends in the rates of ectopic pregnancy, to compare rates of ectopic pregnancy between commercially insured and Medicaid-insured women, and to assess the differences in rates of ectopic pregnancy by different measures of ectopic pregnancy.

METHODS

We analyzed data from 2002 to 2013 using the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial and Medicaid Claims Database. We limited the study population to women aged 15 to 44 years with any pregnancy in each year. Pregnancy and ectopic pregnancy were identified by clinical services with diagnostic or procedural codes. Ectopic pregnancy was measured in two ways: diagnosed and treated compared with diagnosed only; pregnancy was measured in two ways: any pregnancy compared with pregnancy with delivery.

RESULTS

We did not observe a substantial trend in the rate of ectopic pregnancy from 2002 to 2013. The rate of diagnosed and treated ectopic pregnancy substantially increased by age: 0.29% in women aged 15 to 19 years and 0.89% in women aged 40 to 44 years among the commercially insured population and 0.23% and 0.85% among the Medicaid-insured population, respectively. The rate of ectopic pregnancy also varied by the different methodologies used to estimate rates.

CONCLUSIONS

The rate of ectopic pregnancy is relatively low and stable for women of reproductive age in the United States. Our findings highlight that it is important to clearly define the numerator and denominator in the measure of ectopic pregnancy rates.