Establishing the GPA score

Introduction:

The terms Gravid, Para, and Abortions (GPA) are used as a scoring system for recording a woman’s reproductive history. These commonly used terms aim to help healthcare providers understand a woman’s reproductive history and assess her risk for certain complications during pregnancy. (Such as a risk for miscarriage or precipitous delivery (very fast childbirth))

Here is a step-by-step guide for calculating a woman’s GPA score:

The Steps

1.  Determine the number of times the woman has been pregnant, regardless of whether the pregnancy resulted in a live birth or a miscarriage. This is known as the “gravid” score.

2.  Determine the number of times the woman has given birth to a baby that was at least 20 weeks gestation or weighed at least 500 grams (0.5 kg) at birth. This is known as the “para” score.

3.  Determine the number of times the woman has had a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or induced abortion. This is known as the “abortions” score.

4.  Place the gravid, para, and abortions scores to get the woman’s GPA score.

What This Means

For example, if a woman has been pregnant 3 times, has given birth to 2 babies, and has had 1 spontaneous abortion, her GPA score would be 3-2-1.

It is important to note that the GP portions of the GPA score do not include stillbirths (fetal deaths after 20 weeks gestation) or ectopic pregnancies (pregnancies that occur outside the uterus).

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