A Study On Incidence and Management of Preeclampsia In a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Preeclampsia is a syndrome characterized by hypertension and proteinuria that occurs during the second and third trimester of pregnancy. It is a life threatening, multi-organ involvement disease and remains the leading cause of maternal death. Aim: The aim is to evaluate the prevalence and management of preeclampsia. Methods: A prospective Observational study was conducted over a period of six months at obstetrics and gynecology Department of Bharti hospital and Research centre, Pune. All pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic were screened for preeclampsia. Data were collected in Pregnancy Hypertension Patient Proforma & Patient Medication History Form. Results: The incidence of preeclampsia in our study was 4.4%. Majority of patients were in age group of 18-22 years (43.2%) with gestational age of 31-36 weeks (43.2%). In mild preeclamsia after the use of methyldopa with nifedipine, the systolic BP has reduced from 149.4 ± 10.7 mmHg (mean ± SD) to 131.4 ± 10.6 mmHg and the diastolic BP before and after treatment were 98.5 ± 14.6 mmHg and 85.7 ± 9.7 mmHg respectively. In severe preeclampsia after the use of methyldopa with nifedipine, the systolic BP has reduced from 169.2 ± 23.9 mmHg (mean ± SD) to 146.9 ± 14.3 mmHg and diastolic BP before and after treatment were 106.1 ± 13.2 mmHg and 95.3 ± 7.7 mmHg respectively. By examining the neonatal outcome, it is observed that 50.0% of preterm delivery, low birth weight (LBW) babies (52.3%) and one neonatal death occurred. Conclusion: In our study, the incidence of preeclampsia in pregnancy is high and antihypertensive are much effective in controlling systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Among antihypertensives used, methyldopa with nifedipine combination is much effective in controlling blood pressure in preeclamptic patients.