Eclampsia : A Major Cause of Feto – Maternal Mortality and Morbidity?

Abstract

Introduction: More than 50,000 women die of pre-eclampsia or eclampsia and 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. Objective: To enlist the feto-maternal deaths and maternal complications in order of frequency in patients of eclampsia. Study Design: Descriptive study. Subject and Settings: All 6000 patients who delivered in MTH Hospital Faisalabad during two years of study from Septem-ber 2007 to September 2009 were considered to sort out patients with eclampsia. By purposive sampling technique patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected. A printed proforma was used to record information, descriptive statistics (χ2 goodness of fit) applied and maternal morbidity and mortality & perinatal mortality recorded. Results: Thirty four patients with eclampsia were enrolled in this study. Five patients (14.7%) and sixteen babies (47%) died. Overall 23% patients had at least one complication and remainder 67% had more than one complications. Ten patients (29.4%) had infection, DIC and acute renal failure. Eight patients (23.5%) had haemorrhage, cereberal oedema and same number had CVA. Six patients (17.6%) had pulmonary embolism. Four (11.7%) had abruptio – placentae and same number had HELLP syndrome. Three patients (8.82%) had the rare complication of temporary blindness while two patients (5.88%) had cereberal bleed and only one patient (2.94%) had myocardial infarction. All patients were un- booked and majority were primigravidas (65%) and presented with complications. Rate of surgical intervention was high (55%) with all of its con-sequences. Conclusion: Eclampsia is a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in obstetric patients . Major bulk of the patients had multiple complications at the time of presentation. So emphasis must be laid on large scale nation wide programmes about health education, good antenatal care and simple screening measures. Keywords: Eclampsia, Maternal mortality and morbidity, Perinatal mortality.