Comparing perceived social support and perceived stress in healthy pregnant women and pregnant women with preeclampsia

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is a prevalent side effect of pregnancy. Different studies have reported different results about the relationship between mental stress and blood pressure disorders. In addition, social support is highly important to help women who experience risky pregnancy in adapting to the stressors they experience. This study aimed to compare perceived social support and perceived stress in women with and without preeclampsia. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Fifty pregnant women definitely diagnosed with preeclampsia and 50 healthy pregnant women visiting public hospitals including Hazrat Masoumeh, Motazedi,and Imam Reza in Kermanshah-Iran took part in a descriptiveanalytical study from June 2017 to January 2018. Data gathering tools included demographics questionnaire, social support appraisals scale and perceived stress scale. The collected data was analyzed with SPSS (v.20) using independent t-test. RESULTS: The mean score of perceived social support in the preeclampsia and non-preeclampsia groups were 69.88±7.3 and 76.80±7.6 respectively (P<0.01). The mean score of perceived stress in the preeclampsia and non-preeclampsia groups were 35.6±8.7 and 26.01±5.56 respectively (P<0.01). This means that compared with healthy women, women with preeclampsia perceived more stress and less social support. CONCLUSION: In comparison with healthy pregnant women, women with preeclampsia perceived more stress and less social support. Healthcare providers should recommended to pay more attention to improving social support and attenuating stress in pregnant women

Pre-eclampsia at Laquintinie hospital (Douala): survey of prevalence and morbidity from 2010 to 2015

Objective: to determine the prevalence of pre-eclampsia and describe its complications at Laquintinie Hospital in Douala. Methods: We conducted a descriptive study with retrospective data collection for 03 months (January 18, 2016 to April 18, 2016) from the records of pregnant women received at the gynecology-obstetrics department over a 6-year period from 1st January 2010 to 31st December 2015 at Laquintinie Hospital in Douala. We identified pregnant women with BP≥140 / 90 mmHg combined with proteinuria> 0.3g / 24h or significant albuminuria (2+) on urine strips after 20 weeks of amenorrhea. Results: Of the 17644 deliveries recorded during our study period, we found 1080 cases of PE, a frequency of 6.12%. PE was common among primi-parous women (46.7%) in the age group [20-29] years. Pregnant women under the age of 20 were the most affected by eclampsia. Preeclampsia was frequently found in pregnant women with twin pregnancies and those with macrosomic fetuses with 10.1% and 8.9% frequency, respectively. Multiparous women with preeclampsia often had a history of PE (43 cases or 4%), arterial hypertension (55 cases or 5.1%) and / or diabetes (5 cases or 0.5%). Eclampsia was the principal maternal complication (29.7%). The maternal case fatality rate was 0.5%. Fetal complications were dominated by induced prematurity (19.5%) and intra-uterine fetal death (9.4%). Conclusion: This study reveals that pre-eclampsia is frequent in Douala Laquintinie hospital with high maternal-fetal morbidity and mortality rate and therefore remains a major public health problem