Abstract :
Background: Eclampsia remains one of the major causes of maternal morbidity and mortality especially in developing countries.
Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of eclampsia, some epidemiological factors associated with it, its complications and the maternal and perinatal outcome in eclamptic patients.
Material and Method: A prospective observational study was performed on all women with eclampsia admitted to a tertiary care teaching hospital for a period of one year.
Results: There were 12,949 deliveries during the study period, out of which 84 had eclampsia, giving an incidence of 0.64%. Majority of the patients (90.47%) were unbooked. The incidence of antepartum eclampsia (89.28%) was more than intrapartum (1.19%) and postpartum (9.52%) eclampsia. Eclampsia was commonest amongst the age group of 21-25 years (57.14%). 73.8% of the cases were primigravida. 45.23% of patients had gestational age at delivery between 36-40 weeks. 57 patients (67.85%) had severe hypertension on admission (diastolic BP>110 mmHg). 39 patients (46.42%) were delivered through caesarean section. Maternal complications include sepsis and hematoma (7.14%), pulmonary edema (4.76%), renal failure (4.76%), HELLP syndrome (4.76%). There were 3 maternal deaths giving a maternal mortality of 3.57%. Out of the 87 babies delivered, 46 babies (52.87%) had birth weight less than 2000 grams. There was one intrauterine death (1.14%), 14 stillbirths (16.09%) and 12 neonatal deaths (13.79%) giving a perinatal mortality rate of 31.03%. Conclusion: Improvement in hygiene, socioeconomic factors, prenatal care and medical care appear to play an important role in the prevention of eclampsia.
Keyword :
Eclampsia, Maternal morbidity, Maternal mortality, Perinatal morbidity, Perinatal mortality