Association Between Preeclampsia and Hormonal Contraceptive Use among Pregnant Women in Northwest Ethiopia: A CaseControl Study

Abstract

Objective: This study was aimed to determine the association between preeclampsia and hormonal contraceptive use among pregnant women admitted in public hospitals in Gojjam zones, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based unmatched case-control study was conducted in public hospitals in Gojjam zones, northwest Ethiopia. Women with preeclampsia were cases and without preeclampsia were controls. One hundred ten cases and 220 controls were selected using consecutive sampling method. The data were collected through measurements, and conducting face-to-face interviews. Then it was entered using EPI Info and exported to STATA 14 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were done to determine the association between hormonal contraceptive use and preeclampsia. Variables with p-values < 0.05 in the multivariate logistic analysis were considered as statistically significant association with preeclampsia. The results were presented using text, tables and figures. Results: A total of 330 women were involved in this study. The mean age of cases and controls was 28 ± 6 years standard deviations and 27 ± 5 years standard deviations respectively. About 65 (59.1%) of cases and 105 (47.7%) of controls had no formal education. Preeclampsia was associated with multiple gestational pregnancies (AOR = 2.75; 95% CI: 1.20-6.28); and women who used implants (AOR = 0.39; 95% CI: 0.13-0.96). There was no significant association between preeclampsia and other hormonal contraceptives. Conclusion: There was an association between hormonal contraceptive use and preeclampsia. Women who used implants prior to their pregnancy were less likely to be exposed to preeclampsia as compared with controls. Further studies should be conducted on the association of hormonal contraceptive use and preeclampsia to get more consistent findings. Women who have preferred using contraceptive are better to be encouraged to take estrogen free hormonal contraceptives.