Moses Salifu
University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Cardiovasc Dis Diagn
Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are a worldwide health problem for women and their infants accounting for 10% of pregnancies and associated with increased maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal mortality in the major health institutions in Ghana and causes about 30% of maternal deaths. Hypertensive pregnancy in the mother have short term complications which include cerebrovascular complications such cerebral hemorrhage and seizures, pulmonary edema and kidney failure. Perinatal complications regarding the fetus include preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA) neonate, intrauterine growth restriction, low birth weight neonate, intrauterine and perinatal death. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of hypertension among pregnant women who visit the St. Francis Xavier hospital in Assin Fosu. This was a cross-sectional study. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, occupation, nutritional information, level of activity and data such as parity, gestational age and blood pressure were obtained using structured questionnaire and by reviewing of the medical records of the participants. The data was captured using excel and SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data. There were a total of 22 women with hypertensive pregnancy among 202 pregnant women included in the study, resulting in a prevalence of 10.9%. There is a significant burden of hypertensive pregnancy among pregnant women visiting St. Francis Xavier hospital as shown by a high prevalence of 10.9%. Parity-specific prevalence was highest among women with their first pregnancy and trimester-specific prevalence was highest among third trimester pregnant women whereas age-specific prevalence was highest at maternal age below 35 years. Parity and trimester are associated with hypertensive pregnancy but age has been found to have no association with hypertension in pregnancy.
Cardiovascular Diseases & Diagnosis received 427 citations as per Google Scholar report