Risk factors of preeclampsia among pregnant women admitted at labor ward of public hospitals, low income country of Ethiopia; case control study.

BACKGROUND

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific, multisystem disorder of unknown etiology, which characterized by new onset of high blood pressure & proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. Globally, it contributes 76,000 maternal deaths, 500,000 infant deaths annually, and the second common cause of maternal deaths. In Ethiopia, 19% of maternal deaths result from hypertensive disorder of Pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the risk factors of preeclampsia among pregnant women admitted in labor ward of Public hospitals, Amhara Region Ethiopia,

METHODS

A facility based unmatched case-control study design was conducted in two public hospitals of North Wollo Zone. Cases were pregnant women, who had confirmed diagnosis of preeclampsia, controls were those who had no evidence of preeclampsia, and 65 cases and 195 controls were selected by convenience and systematic random sampling techniques respectively. The collected data was interred in to in EPI INFO version 7.1, transferred, and analyzed using SPSS version 20.00 statistical software. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify independent variables. Factors with P-value < 0.05 were taken as statistically significant of pre-eclampsia among pregnant women.

RESULT: All of the respondents of cases and controls were participated in the study. Factors associated with preeclampsia were respondents who had read and write (AOR = 3.22, 95% CI: (1.05-9.84)) and attended primary school [AOR = 7.02, 95% CI: (1.57-31.45)]. Those pregnant women, who had at least two ANC visit [AOR = 8.69, 95%CI: (1.43-52.85)] and those who had three visit [AOR = 12.59, 95%CI: (3.06-56.05)]. In addition to these, birth Interval less than 24 month [AOR = 4.09, 95% CI: (1.33-12.61)]. Birth Interval 24-35 month [AOR = 2.53, 95% CI: (1.38-11.87], respondents with family history of HPN (AOR = 5.93, 95%CI: (2.39-14.67), family history of DM [AOR = 2.15, 95%CI: (1.12-6.98)], and respondents with previous history of preeclampsia (AOR = 4.14 95%CI: (1.66-10.33) were identified significant factors of preeclampsia among pregnant women attended in labour ward.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Educational status, antenatal care, lower birth interval, having family history of chronic HPN and DM, and history of preeclampsia were identified as major risk factors for occurrence of preeclampsia. Early detection of cases and intensive screening of pregnant women in every visit should be done and large-scale study will be done to identify other risk factors of preeclampsia.