association between maternal socio-economic status, polygamy and risk of pre-eclampsia in rural areas of northern nigeria

objective: to examine association between maternal socio-cultural status, as indicated by maternal income, education and polygamy with severity of pre–eclampsia. materials and methods: this study was carried out in primary health centers in katsina, adamawa and borno states. a total of two groups of subjects were selected for the study, with 50 subjects in each group. group a - pregnant non hypertensive women; group b women with pre-eclampsia. blood pressure was measured in a sitting position with sphygmomanometer after at least 10 minutes of rest. a semi structured questionnaire was administered to each respondent. p value≤ 0.05 was accepted as significant difference.  results: systolic and diastolic blood pressure bp was significantly different. (167.60±2.75 and 107.48±8.01 vs. 116.70±0.98 and 76.80±8.67 in group b vs. group a respectively, p<0.05). in socio–cultural background significant correlation exists between pre–eclampsia and age at first marriage (p= 0.01). there also exists a correlation between age and number of marriages (p= 0.05). age, parity, history of hypertension and number of marriages are negatively and significantly correlated with pre– eclampsia. conclusion: this study found that seclusion and polygamy are not risk factors for developing pre-eclampsia.