ECLAMPTIC PATIENTS

MATERNAL AND PERINATAL OUTCOMES

Abstract

Background: Hypertensive disorders are the second most common cause of
maternal death worldwide. Eclampsia is the extension of pregnancy induced hypertension to
the point of conclusions, coma or both. Objectives: To find out the incidence of eclampsia
among pregnant women and to identify the maternal and perinatal outcomes of eclamptic
patients treated in a tertiary care referral hospital. Study Design: Discretional cross sectional
study. Setting: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar
Khan. Period: January 2014 to December 2014. Methods: A total number of 96 patients out of
10513 who were diagnosed as being eclamptic during the study period were included in this
study. While normal pregnant women and Patient’s with uncertain diagnosis was excluded. All
patient variables were entered and analyzed using SPSS v20. Frequency and percentages were
used to express qualitative variables. Results: There were total ninety six patients (0.913%) out
of 10,513 who presented with eclampsia. Most of eclamptic patients were of having age >21
years. Among patients who developed eclampsia 52 (54.16%) were in Ante partum period and
40 (41.66%) were in postpartum period. Out of 96, five patients died before delivery and thirteen
after delivery, seventy eight patients developed one or more complications during delivery.
Out of total 91 deliveries, 54 (59.30%) were delivered by cesarean section (C/S). Main reason
for C/S was unfavorable cervix. Out of total ninety one deliveries two were twins and eighty
nine singletons. Fifty eight (62.36%) babies were born at a gestational age <37 weeks. Birth
asphyxia occurred in sixty one (65.60%) newborns. There were twenty two (23.65%) perinatal
deaths, fourteen (63.64%) were stillbirths and eight (36.36%) were early neonatal deaths.
Conclusion: Eclampsia is found to be associated with very high rates of maternal mortality and
morbidity as well as perinatal mortality. Early diagnosis of eclampsia and its timely management
can reduce the risk of this mortality. This can be made possible by provision of basic facilities
and improvements in the quality of basic care provided by our antenatal clinics.