Eclampsia: A Continuous Scourge in a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Eclampsia is responsible for over 50,000 maternal deaths with incidence of 1 death in about 100 -1500 deliveries in developing nations. In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria accounts for the highest maternal mortality ratio of 512 deaths per 100,000 live deliveries and the highest neonatal fatality of 67 per 1000 live births. Factors such young age, nulliparity, multifetal gestation, unbooked cases, preterm delivery (<32 weeks), lack of proper access to antenatal care, poor hospital care, financial constraints and inappropriate diagnosis, have all been identified as risk factors promoting eclampsia. Objectives: In this study, we investigated the prevalence of eclampsia in Rivers State, Nigeria and established the correlation between social demographic factors and the feto-maternal outcomes among the eclampsia patients. Methodology: A prospective observational study using a detailed data sheet was conducted on 1244 pregnant women admitted at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, for 1-year duration. Data analysis was conducted using statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) version 22. Results: Demography showed that age range (20 -24) occurred in 40.7%, nulliparous mothers were dominant with 40.7% while 70.1% of the study population had secondary level of education. 27 cases of eclampsia were diagnosed from the 1244 pregnant women, which signified 2.13% prevalence among the studied population. The feto-maternal outcome showed that out of the 27 mothers, 19 were alive (70.4%) while 8 died (29.6%), while fetal outcome showed that 16 were alive (59.3%) and 11 died (40.7%). Only parity and education showed significant correlation at 0.01 and 0.05 levels respectively with maternal outcome. Conclusion: The prevalence of eclampsia with associated poor feto-maternal outcome rates is high in this study. Its contribution to the maternal and perinatal morbidities and mortalities necessitates the narrative of eclampsia being a scourge, as hypertensive disease remains an obstetric dilemma in both developed and developing countries.