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

ABSTRACT

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: