Risk Factors of Eclampsia and Its Maternal and Perinatal Effects at A Tertiary Hospital: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Eclampsia is responsible for 34% of maternal mortality in Pakistani tertiary care hospitals among women admitted for delivery. Objective: To evaluate risk factors associated with eclampsia patients as well as the perinatal maternal effects in patients. Methods: Overall, 250 patients were involved in this research who were diagnosed with eclampsia. The data were collected from the medical records of the patients. The medical records contained information related to the patient's pregnancy history, characteristics, medical history, obstetric history, information related to admission to the hospital, maternal outcomes, and treatment provided at the hospital. For statistical analysis, SPSS version 21.0 was used. Results: There were 21689 women who gave birth in the hospital during the research process and 250 patients (1.15%) were diagnosed with eclampsia out of which 4 women died and had a case fatality rate of 1.6 %. The major risk factors associated were young age, already existing medical conditions, education level being low, low antenatal attendance, and nulliparity. HELLP syndrome was the most common consequence with a percentage of 15.6. All patients were provided with medication of magnesium sulfate. However, there was an absence of parenteral antihypertensive therapy. A total of 46 women (18.4 %) gave birth through vaginal delivery. Conclusions: According to our findings, eclampsia is still a key risk to maternal survival. Poor socioeconomic status, lack of education, and inadequate antenatal care were found as major risk factors