Epidemiology of preeclampsia in pregnant women referred to Shahid Bahonar hospital of Kerman in 1994

pregnancy induced hypertension is a frequent cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity and it is one of the major obstetric problems.the aim of this study was to determine the incidence and severity of pregnancy induced hypertension disorders of patients referred to Niknafs maternity hospital(the largest maternity center of Kerman) in 1994.data on frequency of neonatal deaths,maternal age,parity,gestational age,underlying disease,fatal hydrops,season,multiparity and recurrence were analysed in relation to hypertension and preeclamosia.among a total of 3339 pregnant women reffering to Niknafs maternity hospital.167(5%,95% confidence interval{CI} 4.3%,-5.8%) were hypertensive of whom 14 (0.4%,95% CL:0.2%,0.7%) had eclampsia,68% (2%,95% CI 1.6%-2.6%) sever preeclampsia and 58(2.6%,95%CI:2%-3.1%) had mild preeclampsia.the everage (standard deviation {SD}) of the patients age was 27.1(6.3) years,more than one third of the patients (37.2%) were 20-24 years old and 1.2% above 40 years.43.8% of patients were primigravida and 25% had more than five pregnancies.the average(SD) gestational age was 36.2(4.3) weeks.95.8% of the patients had no history of previous underlying background disease,only 0.6% had history of diabetes mellitus and/or chronic vascular disease and 3% had chronic hypertension.recurrence occurred in 7.8% of cases.there were 9 cases of dead fetuses(6.25%,95% CI:2.9%-11.5%) among 144 births,and no report was obtained about delivery in 23 cases of them.multiparty and fetal hydrops was not seen in preeclamptic patients.seasonal variation did not influence the incidence of preeclampsia and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.considering the above findings no significant difference was observed in prevalence of preeclampsia in Kerman in comparison to the results reported from the other parts of the world.