TITLE:
Eclampsia: A Continuous Scourge in a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Celestine Osita John, Justina Omoikhefe Alegbeleye
KEYWORDS:
Eclampsia, Preeclampsia, Prevalence, Maternal, Fetal, Mortality, Booked, Un-booked
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.14 No.1,
January
31,
2024
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
(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.