Abstract
Objectives: The study was aimed at examining the risk factors for pre-eclampsia in the multiparous women in Lagos, Nigeria.Methods: This is a cross-sectional case-control study designed to examine the risk factors for pre-eclampsia in the multiparous women in Lagos, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were administered to eligible participants (pre-eclamptic and normotensive) who delivered at the two teaching hospitals in Lagos during the study period. Information obtained were entered into computer and analysis was done using Epi-Info 2008 version 3.5.1 statistical software package.Results: A total of 350 multiparous women participated in the study. 150 of them were preeclamptic while the remaining 200 who were normotensive were used as control. Monogamous relationship, change of spouse, age of 40 years and above, previous pre-eclampsia, chronic hypertension, diabetes, family history of hypertension and unbooked status were the risk factors found to be associated with pre-eclampsia in multiparous women in the study (P?0.05).Conclusion: Identified risk factors were not different from previously identified factors in other studies. A call for early antenatal booking, good control of hypertension and diabetes cannot be overemphasized in the prevention of preeclampsia/eclampsia.
Highlights
Pre-eclampsia is one of the most important causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in both developing and developed countries[1,2]
The result of this study indicates that maternal age up 40 years was associated with development of pre-eclampsia
Maternal level of education was found to have no significant relationship to the development of pre-eclampsia just like previous studies where the level of education was not found to be a significant risk factor[12, 25]
Summary
Pre-eclampsia is one of the most important causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in both developing and developed countries[1,2]. Pre-eclampsia is a multi-systemic disorder that is usually associated with elevated blood pressure and proteinuria. When severe, it can involve the women’s liver, kidneys, blood clotting system or brain[3]. Pre-eclampsia is a syndrome with maternal and fetal manifestations. It is a disorder characterized by vasoconstriction, metabolic changes, endothelial dysfunction, and activation of the coagulation cascade in conjunction with an inflammatory response[4]. Pre-eclampsia complicates 3-5% of first pregnancies and 1% of subsequent pregnancies with around 5-10% of cases being severe[2]. With 99% of these deaths occurring in developing countries, thirteen percent are due to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy eclampsia[6]
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