Frequency and Obstetric Outcome of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy

Objectives: To find out the frequency, maternal demographic characteristics and obstetric outcome of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in a tertiary care hospital. Study design: Descriptive study Place and duration: This study was carried out at Gynae Unit I at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, during a period of one year. Subjects and methods: All pregnant women admitted with hypertensive disorders during a period of one year were recruited in the study. A specific proforma was designed to record the demographic data. Result: During the study period, 3.2% pregnant women were admitted with hypertensive disorders. Majority of these were between 21-35 years of age, para 1-3 and belonged to low socioeconomic class. Seventy percent presented with gestational hypertension, 21% with preeclampsia and 9% with chronic hypertension. About 82% of the cases had moderate to sever hypertension while 3.7% had eclampsia. 59% women delivered vaginally while 41% had caesarean section. Women with preeclampsia/eclampsia had higher risk of maternal morbidity and mortality and had adverse perinatal consequences as compared to the women with gestational hypertension in this study. Conclusion: This study revealed hypertensive disorders of pregnancy as a major challenge for obstetricians contributing to adverse maternal and perinatal outcome. There is an urgent need to create awareness about early antenatal booking and provision of emergency obstetric care services at door step to improve obstetric outcome.