The socio-clinical particularities of preeclampsia in a disadvantaged African black environment

Abstract

Introduction: Pre-eclampsia is one of the major causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in the world. The complexity of its etiopathogenesis involves, among other things, age, primi-gravidity, obesity, lack of sensitization to the partner's sperm. Objective: It was to describe the socio-clinical profile of the preeclampsia pregnant woman received in consultation in our service and to compare it with that of a control population. Methodology: We carried out a situational study of prospective descriptive and analytical type during 07 months from 01 November 2018 to May 31, 2019, in the obstetrics and gynecology department of the Laquintinie Hospital in Douala. We recruited in consultation a continuous series of 150 pregnant women including 50 preeclampsia that we matched to 100 non preeclampsia all at a gestational age greater than 20 weeks of amenorrhea. The variables of interest were age, pregnancy, parity, gestational age, marital status and body mass index. The statistical tests were considered significant for a value of p˂0.05. Results: The preeclampsia pregnant woman in our series had a mean age of 27.80±5.80, mostly in the 25-30years, pauci-gravid, nulliparous and obese grade 1 with a gestational age predominantly ≥37 weeks of amenorrhea. This profile was non-exposing and heterogeneous compared to the control group of the same racial strain and to data from the literature. Conclusion: Our preliminary study suggests the existence of certain socio-clinical peculiarities in the preeclampsia pregnant woman in the black African environment.